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language equivalents

I've been reading a lot recently about Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM).  Apparently a lot of words generally regarded as equivalent (cf. English "friend" and Russian "drug") are actually quite different in the details.  
Does Latejami "zoyzevaw", for example, embody the common denominator (intersection) of all its glosses, or does it encompass the full meaning of every gloss (union).  In either case, it may not match up well with another language's so-called equivalent.

zoyzevaw - friend of, buddy, pal, chum, comrade, intimate.

Defining Latejami words in terms of NSM would negate this English-language bias.

stevo