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Demandetoj pri la vortoj de la korpo

by ceigered, September 21, 2010

Messages: 10

Language: English

ceigered (User's profile) September 21, 2010, 1:20:37 PM

Hey all,

I was wondering whether kruro or gambo was prefered for the word for "leg" in Esperanto, or if there is indeed no difference. The vortaro here gives both, and both seem at first glance equally as bonafide, since gambo is like many words in Esperanto which are adapted from French/Italian (Fr: jambe, It: gamba), and kruro is like many words in Esperanto which are adapted from Latin (la: crus).

Despite my fondness for the word "gambo" since I'm more familiar with it thanks to Italian and French, I've got a feeling that "kruro" is the preferred word since "gambo" appears in Ido for leg, while in Ido, "kruro" is the thigh, leading me to believe that "gambo" is neologistic.

Cheers for any help concerning this minor matter.

(ankaŭ: ĉe http://eo.lernu.net/lernado/vortoj/bildvortaro/4.p..., ne estas la vortoj por la "legs" de la homo - nur "piedo")

erinja (User's profile) September 21, 2010, 2:26:40 PM

This is a bit of a weird situation.

I have seen some dictionaries say that "gambo" is the entire leg, whereas "kruro" is the leg from the knee to the foot. The dictionaries that say that "kruro" is from the knee to the foot only tend to have a second definition defining "kruro" as the entire leg.

In spite of the dictionaries, I think it's a bit of a moot point by now. "kruro" is the only word that I ever hear used for "leg", and it's the word used throughout literature, so that's the one I'd pick.

Donniedillon (User's profile) September 21, 2010, 3:38:12 PM

Even in English I have hears the word gamb used to describe legs...as in "Hey, check out the gambs on that dame!" I know this is slang that probably died out in the 40's or 50's but I always wondered where it came from. I guess now I know. Thank you Esperanto for explaining English to me lango.gif

sudanglo (User's profile) September 21, 2010, 7:26:08 PM

I agree with Erinja - kruro does seem to be the usual word for leg, human and animal.

However to my ears it sounds rather poetic to refer to the belaj gamboj of a girl.

I think the legs of a table maybe 'piedoj', though, in Esperanto, but I am not entirely sure.

Donniedillon (User's profile) September 21, 2010, 8:05:40 PM

From merriam-webster.com

Definition of GAM
slang : leg
Origin of GAM
probably ultimately from Lingua Franca gamba leg, from Italian, from Late Latin
First Known Use: circa 1785

Evildela (User's profile) September 21, 2010, 10:55:40 PM

I've never even seen the word gambo before. Is it common within the spoken esperanto community? I'm guessing its similar to the whole futo / piedo thing esperanto's got going on.

erinja (User's profile) September 21, 2010, 11:27:48 PM

I have never heard "gambo" used in spoken Esperanto, and I've never seen it used in writing either, not without doing a specific google search for it. I have really only seen it in dictionaries!

I have also never heard anatomical feet called "futo". The only correct word is "piedo".

However, the measurement of one foot (the kind of foot that is equal to 12 inches) is "futo". So if you're hearing "futo" around, it should always be referring the the measurement.

Similarly you should be aware of the difference between pundo (a pound - currency) and funto (a pound - weight).

Evildela (User's profile) September 22, 2010, 6:44:20 AM

The only spot I've seen futo regularly used is in the word (futbalo)

Miland (User's profile) September 22, 2010, 10:39:42 AM

Gambo appears to be a relatively recent word. The tekstaro has no citations from Zamenhof, and the root does not occur in the Akademia Vortaro. However Butler's dictionary (1967) has "[gambo=kruro]", and there are a handful of citations in the tekstaro from Ondo de Esperanto and Monato.

ceigered (User's profile) September 23, 2010, 5:19:45 AM

Thank you all for that, I feel like kruro is certainly more safe to use in normal circumstances than gambo if one wants to be understood, judging from the discussion.

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