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Translation q: completion

by Frakseno, February 9, 2009

Messages: 12

Language: English

Frakseno (User's profile) February 9, 2009, 9:23:51 PM

Doing the ol' "First Esperanto Valentine" this year and of course am running into problems going from English to Eo for some ideas.

The question I have regards the Eo translation of "completion," as in "my heart's completion."

kompletigxo doesn't seem quite right... your thoughts?

ie:
Vi estas la kompletigxo de mia koro

Frakseno (User's profile) February 9, 2009, 10:03:52 PM

I guess I was looking at the word "completion" as sort of an abstract quality of "complete" (kompleta), while kompletigxo is perhaps confusing to me as the noun-ization of a verb (kompleti, kompletigxi).
But I suppose that what I am referring to is the noun-ization of a process of becoming complete, and so perhaps kompletigxo is the appropriate word...

Rogir (User's profile) February 9, 2009, 10:27:07 PM

I think in this case kompletigo is more suitable than kompletiĝo.

Frakseno (User's profile) February 9, 2009, 10:34:20 PM

As my heart is the thing having been made complete, I thought -igxo- was correct. But I am not rarely incorrect...

Or is it that she is the "making complete" of my heart, and thus -igo-?

Miland (User's profile) February 9, 2009, 11:40:06 PM

Kompletigo would appear to be more appropriate, if the idea is a 'second half' that makes (igas) a person complete.

Frakseno (User's profile) February 9, 2009, 11:45:12 PM

Indeed - thank you Rogir and Miland!

erinja (User's profile) February 10, 2009, 1:50:55 PM

I think it's more elegant to say "Vi kompletigas mian koron" (you make my heart complete)

henma (User's profile) February 10, 2009, 3:48:30 PM

Have you thought of using "komplemento"?

Besides the meaning it has in grammar, it also means "kompletigaĵo" (see second definition in Reta Vortaro (http://www.reta-vortaro.de/revo/)

"Vi estas la komplemento de mia koro" sounds better than "... la kompletiĝo de mia koro", don't you think?

(aŭ "vi estas mia korkomplemento" ĉu ne? ;D)

Amike,

Daniel.

Frakseno (User's profile) February 11, 2009, 10:17:49 PM

erinja kaj henma,
You are both undoubtedly correct about what sounds better.
I was trying to mirror the phrasing of the English I had written, and so there is a succession of sentences proclaiming, in a vaguely poetic manner, what she has been to me:

You are my a's b,
my c's d,
my e's f,
etc.

So, I'm not sure how best to proceed: the best Esperanto phrasing, or a best attempt at mirroring the English structure of what I'm saying.
I guess I am attached to the structure of the English poem because I am the one who wrote it.
But that doesn't mean that the translation is best served by that mirroring.

Frakseno (User's profile) February 11, 2009, 10:21:24 PM

henma, I have to admit that I shamefully underutilise the Reta Vortaro, to my own detriment.

In order to preserve the noun, I think that I may prefer your recommendation. Dankon!

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