Re: Devoid

caeruleancentaur wrote:
> I happened upon the word "devoid" today.  It seems to be an
> interesting adjective.  While synonyms are "empty, vacant, etc." it
> must be used with "of" and cannot be used attributively or
> predicatively.
>
> *The devoid (of) can is on the table.
> *The can is devoid (of).
I haven't thought of a word for "devoid" in Minza, but it would be a
"transitive adjective". Minza has a class of adjectives that take an
object in the genitive case, but unlike "devoid", this object can be
omitted (like the object of a transitive verb). The Minza word for
"full" is such an adjective:

łepa kumbi "a full box"; łepa kumbi topilit "a box full of pencils".

Probably something like "absolutely lacking" is what I'd use for
"devoid". Lacking is a participle (nežyli), which also acts as a
"transitive adjective". "Absolutely" is represented by the prefix "kai-".

Teka batsomu juk kainežyli. "The devoid can is on the table."

> It can be used appositively (if I understand that correctly).
>
> He is a man devoid of charm.
Adjectives follow nouns in Minza, so this distinction doesn't apply.