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Rex May - Baloo
but of course kofi
doesn't fit the phonology. How about 'jo', from 'a cup of joe'? Ray >>
For "coffee" I would suggest either "kowi" which is similar to the
English and Japanese or "kawe" which is similar to the German.
Such a neat small morpheme like "jo" is sure to be needed sometime -
you should keep your stock of two letter words for very common or very useful
words. Otherwise use "jo" for sonmething similar sounding in English,
German, French, Spanish Japanese, Mandarin or Esperanto: Do you have
a word for "jaw, mandible" yet? - "jo" would be appropriate for that!
Looking at my NTC Dictionary (which gives the Mandarin reading as well
as all Japanese and English renderings of each Sino-Japanese character), I note
that tha morph for "HELP" has Japanese On-reading "JO" and Mandarin reading
"zhu4", so for example an "auxiliary verb / helping verb" is "jo-do:shi" in
Japanese (where "do:shi" means "verb") and "zgu4dong4zi2" in Mandarin (where
"dong4zi2" means "verb"). The benefit of assigning "jo" to a particular
Chinese Character is that you can note how this element is used as
part of many Japanese and Chinese compound that quite often will fit into Ceqli
as well.
Other possibilities for using "jo" are "form, shape , appearance;
condition, state, situation, circumstances; official form or document, official
paper or letter, certificate, warrant" which is "JO:" in Japanese and
"zhuang4" in Chinese. The Chinese Characters do have a wide territory of
meaning (but then so also does the English word "form"). In Chinese
and Japanese one would narrow down the menaing by combining the morph
with one or more other Chinese Characters, and in English one would know
what the word "form" means only when we see it in context - a written
form? sent back to a lower form at school? the form of an
elephant? Cunei-form?
Other possibilities for "jo" are:
"JO:" (Japanese), "zhang4" (Chinese) meaning "stout, robust, strong,
tough; stature, height; unit of length equivalent to pprox 3.03 metres or
10 "shaku" in Japan and equal to 10 "chi3" in China.
"JO:" (Japan), "jing4" {Mand) meaning "clean, pure, unstained" so we
have "JO:KA" / "jing4hua" meaning "purification, cleansing", and the JO:DO
("pure-land") sect of Buddhism.
"JO:" / "die2" = fold up, fold; shut; bear in mind; put away, do away
with; folding, collapsible, easy to store away; tatami mat, straw
mat. I lived in a 6-jo:-su: hut when I was in Japan. ("JO:-SU:" means
"tatami mat/removable things" + "number). The combined
bed-room/lounge/diningroom was 4 jo in size and the toilet and
the combined kitchen/bathroom and the cupboard altogether comprised 2
jo. When I awoke in the morning I would "die2chu" (pile up) my
sleeping equipment in the cupboard and the function of the room would be
changed for the rest of the day.
"JO: / zheng1" means "vapour, steam, heat with steam; foment;
evaporation, volatilization; vaporization; mysterious disappearance.
Lookin in my Cina-Esperanta Vortaro (but using NH_Alfabeto instead of
FH-Alfabeto) I see that "JO:HATSU / zheng1fa1" means "vaporiji";
"zheng1liu2" means "distili"; "zheng1liu2shui3" means "distilled water";
"zheng1shi" is "steamed food" and then repeating the character and adding "day"
and "above" one gets "zheng1zheng1 ri4shang4" meaning "pliprosperi tago post
tago". In Japanese "JO:MIN" are "the masses" (volatile +
population).
"JO: / jing4" means "quiet; silent; motionless" and in Esperanto
"jing4dian4 translates as "statika elektro", "jing4mi4" is "trankvilo",
jing4mo4" is "silento", "jing4mu4" is "solene kvieta", "jing4tai4" is "statika",
"jing4wu4" is "muta naturo", "jing4xin1 (+ heart)" is "senemocie, trankvila
emocios" - Note that in the word "emocios" I am using "-s" to indicate the
plural and so in Reformed Esperanto I would use "-n" as the verb ending and "at"
as the accusative preposition), "jing4ya1" is "statika premo", "jing4yang3" is
"trankvile ripozi", "jing4zhi4" is "senmove sidi o standi", and "jing4zuo4 (+
work)" is "sidostriko, loktena striko".
As you can see "jo" is too useful to be wasted on
coffee.
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