New Words and Odd Words
A new word lives if people use and understand it; one that nobody can read is a volapukaĵo.
How It Works
| Word | What it shows |
|---|---|
| retpoŝto | a clear new word: reto (network) + poŝto (mail) |
| komputilo | a new word with a regular ending for a tool |
| volapukaĵo | something incomprehensible, gibberish (an informal word) |
Anybody may coin a word, but only use makes it part of the language. PMEG says about proposed new little words (words like kaj and tre) that they rarely become established, and that it matters little whether a proposal is good in theory. A word lives when many people understand and use it.
When a new word lasts, dictionaries such as the PIV record it. The Akademio de Esperanto watches the development of the language and gives advice on new usage.
A good new word can be read by its parts, like retpoŝto. A word that nobody can read is a volapukaĵo. The word comes from the name of Volapük, an earlier planned language. Before you use a new word, ask whether your reader can work it out.
Examples (5)
- Retpoŝto estas bona vorto, ĉar oni povas legi ĝin laŭ ĝiaj partoj: reto kaj poŝto.
Retpoŝto is a good word, because you can read it by its parts: network and mail.
A clear new word is made of known parts.
- Wei skribis novan vorton, sed neniu en la kunveno komprenis ĝin; ĝi estis volapukaĵo.
Wei wrote a new word, but nobody at the meeting understood it; it was a volapukaĵo.
A word that nobody understands is a volapukaĵo.
- Novaj vortoj eniras la lingvon per uzo, kaj vortaroj registras tiujn, kiuj restas.
New words enter the language through use, and dictionaries record those that stay.
Use comes first, and the dictionary follows.
- Antaŭ ol uzi novan vorton, Omar demandas sin, ĉu la leganto povos kompreni ĝin.
Before using a new word, Omar asks himself whether the reader will be able to understand it.
The ĉu clause names the question, and sin points back to Omar.
- Komputilo estis nova vorto, sed hodiaŭ ĉiuj konas ĝin.
Komputilo was a new word, but today everybody knows it.
A word that lasts stops being new.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Neologisms are new words built from roots and judged by the Academy.
Related Patterns
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