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From: neal@druny.UUCP (Neal D. McBurnett)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Esperanto and the origins of some interesting words
Message-ID: <1129@druny.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Jan-85 10:32:08 EST
Article-I.D.: druny.1129
Posted: Thu Jan  3 10:32:08 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jan-85 00:35:19 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 136

One of the exciting by-products of my interest in the international
inter-language Esperanto has been
the acquisition of a better knowledge of the background of many
English word roots.  Although there are no detailed records of
how Zamenhof (the inventor of Esperanto (NOT a committee effort,
thank goodness!)) selected each of the basic roots,
Esperanto contains roots from most Indo-European languages.
Frequently the Esperanto root seems to reflect the most common modern form of
the word.
Most of the roots I have come across have an obvious counterpart
in English.  Below I have listed some of those which WEREN'T so obvious to
me.  In some cases I have tentatively indicated some similar English words,
or a likely derivation from another language.

I would be especially interested to have people point out English
"guide words" for the ones I have listed.
I am also interested in the origins of these words (their etyma),
or what other languages they appear in.  Any pointers would be appreciated.
Also, are there any good multi-lingual dictionaries which 
might be able to help me in the future?  I have already found the
American Heritage dictionary to be invaluable.  Besides having an etymon
for each word, in the back is an extensive Proto-Indo-European
vocabulary, with lots of derived words in many languages.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a linguist, nor an etymologist.  Forgive me
if I've made any howling errors!  I know that this is not a good scientific
approach to either of these fields: I'm mainly trying to gain a
practical advantage in my study of Esperanto, English, and other Indo-European
languages, so while I'm interested in learned comments, I'm not above
using coincidental similarities between words as a learning aide....

Many thanks!
-Neal McBurnett, ihnp4!druny!neal

Hint: nouns end in "o", adjectives in "a", verbs in "i", and adverbs in "e".

^geni		inconvenience
^sloso		lock				Ger schloss
^sra^ubi	screw
a^ceti		buy
afero		thing
agi		act		agree, agent
bezoni		need
bildo		picture				Ger bild
brako		arm		bracelet, brachial
bruo		noise		bruhaha?
devi		must				G dei?
diri		say		voir dire,	L dicere
doloro		pain
fari		make		fabricate?
fono		background
fermi		close
flava		yellow				L flavus
flegi		nurse
fu^si		botch				Ger verpfuschen
grasa		fat		gross
iri		go				L?
koro		heart		courage, cardiac
kruro		leg
ku^si		lie		cushy?		Hindi khush, pleasant?
kuri		run		course		L cursus; cursive, IE kers
manki		lack				Ger mangeln?
mateno		morning		matutinal 	L matuninus (Matuta, goddess of dawn
meti		put
montri		show		demonstrate 	SP monstr
mur		wall		mural
pa^so		step
paroli		speak		parole: "word of honor"
perdi		lose		perdition (loss of soul)
peza		heavy
plendi		complain	plaint, plaintiff, plague!
po^so		pocket
pravi		right
preni		take		prehensile, comprehend
provi		try
sago		arrow		Sagitarius, Sagitta, sage. IE: seek out
se^go		chair		sedan
sekvi		follow		sequel, second, sect
semajno		week				SP semana
soifi		thirst
sveni		faint
voli		will				Ger wollen
zorgi		concern				Ger sorge

Prepositions and function words:

^car		because
^ce		whether
^cirka^u	around		circa
^gis		until				Ger bis
a^u		or				L aut
ajn		whatever
almena^u	at least
amba^u		both		ambidextrous
anka^u		also
ankora^u	still
anstata^u	instead of	stand?		Ger anstatt
anta^u		before		anterior, antique, anti-
apud		beside
balda^u		soon				Ger bald
dum		during
heira^u		yesterday			L heri
hodia^u		today				Ger heute, L hodie
jam		already
kaj		and				G kaj
ke		that
kontra^u	against		contrary
krom		besides
kun		with				L cum
kvasa^u		as if				L quasi
la^u		according to
morga^u		tomorrow			Ger morgen
nek		neither				Ger nun, L nec
nun		now				IE nu
nur		only				Ger nur
ol		than				Ger als
plej		most		pleistocene
plena		full		plenty, replenish
pli		more		pliocene
plu		further		plus, plural
preska^u	almost
preter		past		preterit, preternatural
pri		about
se		if				L si
sed		but				L sed
sen		without				L sine
sur		on
tamen		nevertheless			L tamen
tro		too much
tuj		immediately

G=Greek
Ger=German
IE=Proto-Indo-European
L=Latin
SP=Spanish