Mesaĝoj: 5
Lingvo: English
Scratch (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-13 19:09:29
Kavio.
Now since capybaras resemble giant guinea pigs and are related, would kaviego be an appropriate sort of word building for the capybara? Or would the addition of -eg fail to convey the fact that it is another species and a person hearing kaviego would only think of a large guinea pig?
I'm still quite new to learning Esperanto and have enjoyed reading how those who are more knowledgeable here understand its grammar, vocabulary and word building.
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-13 19:34:07
However, Wikipedia can be useful for such circumstances. It isn't always totally accurate but it will give you a good idea if you can't find the word anywhere else.
Wikipedia says it's kapibaro, or alternately akvoporko.
However, in general, many Esperanto plant and animal words come from the Latin name of the plant or animal. Alternately the Esperanto name is sometimes chosen from the most international version of a word. That seems to be the case for a capybara.
For example the Esperanto name for a tern (the bird) is ŝterno; that's from sternidae, the Latin family name of that type of bird. Birds from the family sternidae are called "ŝternedoj" in Esperanto.
darkweasel (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-13 20:11:40
erinja:Birds from the family sternidae are called "ŝternidoj" in Esperanto.Isn't it ŝternedoj? At least according to ReVo there are hundedoj (Canidae) and musteledoj (Mustelidae). PMEG also has a page about the unofficial suffix -ed.
Miland (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-13 20:27:08
The root kavio according to PIV 2005 means the genus Cavio which includes both extant species of Capybara, making kapibaro as well as kavio suitable terms in my view.
Kaviego would mean "giant (or very big) kavio". However, if I understand correctly, both species are very large rodents.
In that case, kaviego would not be suitable.
erinja (Montri la profilon) 2011-marto-13 20:38:20