Re: verbs of eating

Philippe Caquant wrote:
> Does this verb "go" = "to eat" also apply to plants ?
>
> Normally plants don't "eat", but they feed themselves.
> And what about microscopic animals, made out of only
> one or a few cells ?
Interesting. I have the idea that some of the languages of the people
formerly known as "elves" (Nelya, Miri, etc.) use the same words to
describe analogous features of plants and animals. The most obvious
example is that there's a single word for both "seed" and "egg". But the
same idea could be extended to aspects of physiology; certainly, plants
"breathe" (take in essential gases from the air), so it makes sense to
use the word "eat" for the process of absorbing nutrients.

But it's been so long since I actually worked on Nelya-Miri languages
that I don't have any examples of this.

On the other hand, I imagine that the more herbivorous species might
have distinct words for eating vegetarian type food and eating meat.
Small, relatively defenseless people who live in areas where dangerous
predators like dragons live might also have a distinction between
"eating" and "being eaten" as separate roots (like the distinction
between "kill" and "die" in English).