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For short, do you always use "malalta"?

by alexbeard, January 4, 2009

Messages: 26

Language: English

alexbeard (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 1:10:00 AM

I was wondering, since the word for tall is alta in esperanto, then malalta means short. Is there any other world for short that does not use the 'mal' suffix? Or is that the only way to express it?

danielcg (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:10:06 AM

Since "short" is not only the opposite of "tall" but also of "long", we have two words in Esperanto for both opposites, respectively, "malalta" kaj "mallonga". But both use the mal preffix (BTW, a "suffix" goes after the root, not before).

There is the word "kurta" as a synonime for "mallonga", but I don't advice its use except in poetry or in specialized vocabulary (e.g. "kurtonda" for "short wave"). I don't recall now any synonime for "malalta".

Regards,

Daniel

alexbeard:I was wondering, since the world for tall is alta in esperanto, then malalta means short. Is there any other world for short that does not use the 'mal' suffix? Or is that the only way to express it?

orthohawk (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:14:20 AM

of course, nothing would prevent someone from saying "mallongonda" particularly if they forget the other word ridulo.gif.

I myself forgot about the word "foresto" the other day so used "neĉeesto" instead........which means pretty much the same thing.

danielcg (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:22:03 AM

Sorry for the involuntary intrusion of "kaj" in place of "and".

I guess you'll have to put up with my defect of forgetting to go back to the main text language after inserting a quote in another.

Regards,

Daniel

danielcg:we have two words in Esperanto for both opposites, respectively, "malalta" kaj "mallonga".

vejktoro (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:39:10 AM

'kurt-' is generally reserved for technical things like 'kurtonda'.

I`ve also seen 'kurttempa', as in a short-term something or other.

Or, as Daniel says, in literary work.

alexbeard (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:09:40 PM

Does this sort of thing apply to other stuff?

Like, when you want to make an adjective. Is it you take one adjective, and to make it's opposite you just put mal in front of it instead of using an entire different word?

For example:
pura means clean, malpura means dirty. is there another way to say dirty or do you just say malpura?

vejktoro (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:25:31 PM

yep.

less words to learn.

fermi/malfermi

alexbeard (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:31:58 PM

How did he choose which words to use as the root?

danielcg (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 4:58:02 PM

About 70 % from Latin, about 10 % from Greek and the rest from the most internacionalized roots in the Hindo-European languages.

Regards,

Daniel

alexbeard:How did he choose which words to use as the root?

alexbeard (User's profile) January 4, 2009, 5:00:50 PM

danielcg:About 70 % from Latin, about 10 % from Greek and the rest from the most internacionalized roots in the Hindo-European languages.

Regards,

Daniel

alexbeard:How did he choose which words to use as the root?
That's not what I mean, I mean how did he make the choice between using the word for tall or the word for short for the root?

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