Skip to the content
Reply

Translating spork

by Miland, July 15, 2015

Messages: 9

Language: English

Miland (User's profile) July 15, 2015, 12:11:52 PM

A useful piece of cutlery for eating salads or take-away items at lunch time (or perhaps for those who go camping) is the spork or buffet fork. Some (like the one I use) have a serrated edge, thus combining the functions of a knife, fork and spoon, handy for cutting harder items like boiled potatoes or cucumbers.
You may also come across terms like foon or knork - the latter would have to have a serrated edge or cutting edge at least.
Sometimes the spoon bowl is at the opposite end of a knork -I leave it to others to say which they prefer.
How would we translate such an item into Esperanto? Bufeda forko could work, as a translation of "buffet fork", but how about a combination like forkulero? What would you suggest?

Tempodivalse (User's profile) July 15, 2015, 12:28:40 PM

I'm not really thrilled about portmanteaus which truncate roots. The normal compounding process is so much more straightforward.

In that spirit, one possible option is kulerforko.

sudanglo (User's profile) July 15, 2015, 1:36:15 PM

The linked picture shows an item of cutlery which is more forka than tranĉila or kulera.

I think bufeda forko is fine. Alternatively, starmanĝa forko.

Balbutanto (User's profile) July 15, 2015, 1:46:34 PM

It looks a lot like a runcible spoon, for which kulerforko seems adequate.

Christa627 (User's profile) July 15, 2015, 7:17:03 PM

Your picture does look more fork-like than what I usually know as a spork, which is basically a flimsy plastic spoon with a zigzag end. Not very good for stabbing things, and the zigzag end prevents one from scooping the last bit from a soup cup, as one can with a real spoon.

image

I also would say kulerforko; forkulero is technically either for-kulero (away-spoon) or fork-ul-er-o (a component fragment of a fork person).

But manĝilaĉo might be more effective...

Miland (User's profile) July 16, 2015, 11:57:35 AM

Tempodivalse:The normal compounding process is so much more straightforward..option is kulerforko.
I agree that this is more in keeping with the tradition of Esperanto. Possibly I didn't think of it earlier because I was searching for something like spork which is a portmanteau word.

Christa627:..a flimsy plastic spoon with a zigzag end..manĝilaĉo might be more effective...
That depends on the quality; ordinary cutlery can range from cheap or flimsy plastic to stainless steel and even precious metals for the wealthy. But a spoon with a zigzag end could be forka kulero or multepinta kulero. A multi-functional piece of cutlery could be multuza manĝilo.

However I myself prefer kulerforko or bufeda forko to these.

erinja (User's profile) July 16, 2015, 8:59:25 PM

I would not know what a "buffet fork" is. Is that a britishism?

Miland (User's profile) July 17, 2015, 7:52:55 AM

erinja:I would not know what a "buffet fork" is. Is that a britishism?
It's certainly possible to search for "buffet fork" in the US amazon website, though the results don't include many spork-like instruments (unlike the UK amazon website). I have also noticed that the prongs in the UK amazon website searching under "spork" seem longer on average than those in the US, which relates to a point some people have already made.

seveer (User's profile) July 22, 2015, 11:35:33 PM

This post made me wonder about gemination (doubled consonants) in Esperanto. I didn't want to co-opt this thread for something so off-topic, but if you are curious or have something to contribute, please check out that thread.

Thanks!

Back to the top