Re: antonyms: regretful & tasty

On Friday 09 May 2003 10:18 am, Garrett Jones wrote:
> it's interesting to hear of words that english doesn't have good
> translations for. I want Minyeva to have lots of words like that, but
> somehow i have to "discover" them on my own or in other languages. Any
> suggestions on how to find them in other languages? About the only thing i
> can think of is for people to just list the ones they know...
        This is undoubtably the hardest parts of conlanging, because it requires you
to think outside your usual frame of reference. The best thing is to browse
dictionaries and see what interesting concepts you can unearth there. Also,
think about semantic ranges. Besides dividing (to take an example from an
earlier thread, have three different verb for know: to be familiar with
someone, to have a skill, and to possess information), try lumping together
semantic ranges like "knock" and "announce" or "to call over, hail" and "to
humiliate." (In Enamyn culture, one never loudly called a person over; if you
happened to see someone in the marketplace and couldn't get to them before
they left, you stayed silent. To call out someone's name, especially in a
public place, would humiliate them. Only little children (especially if they
wander too far) are called over.)

> Esperanto: jen - behold, here is (sounds antiquidated in english, but it's
> well used in esperanto and is very useful)
        Indeed. The Russian equivalent is "vot," and now I cannot imagine how English
can possibly get along without it. I think the nearest would be "lo," which
has produced the following joke in my family: did you know that an asian
angel is mentioned in the Bible? "And Lo, the angel of the Lord came upon
them..." (Luke 2:9, KJV) Alas, in modern speech it is only preserved in the
fossilized expression "lo and behold."

--
Oh what a tangled web they weave who try a new word to conceive!

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