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translation of the verb-sense of ‘neighbor’

by mkj1887, July 31, 2016

Messages: 8

Language: English

mkj1887 (User's profile) July 31, 2016, 7:38:00 PM

‘neighbor’ is used not only as a noun, but also as a verb, both transitive and intransitive, as attested by both Merriam-Webster and Wiktionary. However, the verb-sense seems to have been completely overlooked in Esperanto:
1. the Esperanto Wiktionary does not translate the verb sense
2. Benson does not translate the verb sense
3. Wells does not translate the verb sense
4. PIV does not give a verb-form for the root ‘najbar/’

I would think that ‘najbari’ would be appropriate for the transitive verb sense, and ‘najbariĝi’ for the intransitive sense (or, more precisely, ‘najbariĝi je’ for the intransitive verb sense ‘neighbor on’), but I wanted to present this question to the community for discussion.

Thanks.
-mj

Vestitor (User's profile) July 31, 2016, 8:22:05 PM

That's probably because in the verb sense it just means to reside 'nearby' (check the etymology of that last word). In its intransitive sense 'neighbour'is hardly, if ever, used in English, whereas 'being neighbourly' - implying the same - is used.

Esperanto doesn't have to mimic every aspect of English.

erinja (User's profile) July 31, 2016, 10:01:01 PM

To neighbor means to be next to or to be near to. I'd say that in Esperanto you could render the idea as "apudi" or "proksimi al" if you had your heart set on expressing these concepts succinctly.

noelekim (User's profile) August 1, 2016, 2:47:12 AM

It turns out the verb "najbari" is not at all uncommon so it's surprising it doesn't appear in the dictionaries.

I have added "najbari kun", "najbari al", "najbari ..n" to Vikivortaro .

"Najbari" also works for "is neighboured by" as in: the house is neighbored by other homes - la domo najbaras al aliaj hejmoj.

Fenris_kcf (User's profile) August 1, 2016, 6:28:34 AM

Vestitor:Esperanto doesn't have to mimic every aspect of English.
Yes, it muzzzt!
It is such an insolent impudence of Esperanto not to have direct translations for all English words!

Vestitor (User's profile) August 2, 2016, 10:24:01 AM

noelekim:It turns out the verb "najbari" is not at all uncommon so it's surprising it doesn't appear in the dictionaries.

I have added "najbari kun", "najbari al", "najbari ..n" to Vikivortaro .

"Najbari" also works for "is neighboured by" as in: the house is neighbored by other homes - la domo najbaras al aliaj hejmoj.
It seems all those examples employ 'najbaras' to mean abut or to ' share a border with', or in the chemistry example, 'to be closer to'. In The Wells dictionary he gives a weird phrase for abut(ment). Perhaps najbaras as verb actually is better and more accurate after all.

erinja (User's profile) August 2, 2016, 6:05:56 PM

This thread is labeled as being in Esperanto, though it is clearly in English, and it is asking a language question. I'm going to change the language of the thread to English, to reflect reality, and move this thread to the appropriate forum.

Cirariko (User's profile) August 3, 2016, 11:54:22 AM

"To neighbour" is used only in very specific instances in English. You could say "the house neighbours the sea" but people would probably wonder why you said it that way.

"Najbari" is a cute word but I worry that it's use in Esperanto is perhaps a little too English-centric.

Having said that, if you like it, most people would understand what you mean.

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