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Why wood (ligno) is not derivative from tree (arbo)?

viết bởi falicxan_Novjaron, Ngày 23 tháng 5 năm 2022

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Nội dung: English

falicxan_Novjaron (Xem thông tin cá nhân) 08:03:03 Ngày 23 tháng 5 năm 2022

While reading about Esperanto grammar on this site, I came across the word "ligna" which appeared to mean "wooden". Why does Esperanto have "ligno" and "arbo" that have no common roots like "wood" and "tree" in English? Is it possible to derive a word from "arbo" to say "wooden"?

Metsis (Xem thông tin cá nhân) 10:32:11 Ngày 23 tháng 5 năm 2022

Quite likely the reason is that among those languages Zamenhof mastered, many (all?) have separate terms for tree (the plant) and wood (the substance). But yes, this is confusing at least to me, whose mother tongue does not usually make the difference. (Note, that English word "woods" has yet another meaning.)

Of course there is the adjective arba,
 
  • Sub la arba foliaro…, Under the tree leaves…
  • Sur senarba monto levu… On a tree-less mountain you should rise…
But in any case arb/ always refers to the plant, while lign/ to the substance.

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