It seems to be simply like this:
Glosa words are built from
[When I once was disappointed about Glosa's vocabulary, I was looking for a way, how it could be fixed/reformed/refined, and I sketched the text below. Meanwhile many problems in the words are solved. So the ideas below are perhaps not further necessary.]
How are the Glosa words built? An answer to this question is necessary
to remove the many insufficiencies from the Glosa vocabulary.
The first part (I) of this text is written by the Glosa authors
themselves. It tells, that Glosa words are built from English foreign
words.
The second part (II) introduces to the word derivation of Latino sine
Flexione/ Interlingua de Peano. LsF is another
international auxiliary language, that is quite similar to Glosa.
Of course, these ideas are not valid for Glosa, but maybe nevertheless
interesting here.
(III) gives a draft overview about the derivation of Glosa words
directly from classical roots.
(IV) gives the direction to a more systematical attempt.
[The following lines are written by the Glosa authors Ron Clark and Wendy Ashby themselves. They are from the Glosa-newspaper "Plu Glosa Nota", no. 37. They say mainly, that Glosa words are built from English foreign words. I personally think, that such a domination of English is not good for an international auxiliary language. On the other hand a lot of these words are really international and not only English. The result of this method is unfortunately often not unambiguous and so not always satisfying.]
As regards your first suggestion. We agree that to sell Glosa to bodies such as EEC, UN, UNESCO etc. MEGA-GLOSA, a large vocabulary is essential. Scientists, literary people and politicians require it.
We however insist that GLOSA 1000 must remain the Centre, the Heart of Glosa. Glosa is a truly International Auxiliary Language. It will appeal to the motivated Third World artisan only if it is simple to learn and accurate, and able to deal with all kinds of information exchange. Glosa will not be allowed to fall into the trap of becoming only a holiday language for wealthy people of the industrialized nations. The world will never be healthily united until accurate information is readily available to everyone everywhere, and everybody in the world has enough to eat, good shelter and a good-allround education - an education for living not merely for earning a living. The world has now the means (but not yet the will) to bring all this about quickly and thoroughly.
Europeans are used to large vocabularies, which can contribute to mis- understandings not only between nations but also between classes. We hope that although perhaps enjoying the variety and freedom of Mega Glosa people will at the same time work their way up to Central Glosa 1000.
Below we make some provisional suggestions for forming a Mega Vocabulary. Glosa 6000 by the way has all the information for forming a truly enormous vocabulary. We shall bring out a Mega Glosa as soon as possible.
All you have to do to form your own MegaGlosa is to be able to recognize a Latin and Greek root. Most of the common ones will be listed in Glosa 1000, the others will be in Glosa 6000. In any long word of classical origin there may be ...
Prefix - root - suffix.
Eg. SUPER FLU OUS
Remember Glosa has no parts of speech; and any Glosa word can act as any part of speech. Because the suffix is usually concerned with this kind of information, whether the word is verb, noun, adjective or adverb it is usually superfluous for Glosa and can be removed.
If the Prefix is one with a distinct meaning i. e. one of the 35 listed in PGN 36 this must be retained as it contributes to meaning, to information. So generalizing;
Word minus suffix = Prefix + root.
the word you want. In the above example the root is FLU, to flow, SUPER over; therefore SUPERFLU, overflow. In a way forming a Mega Glosa Vocabulary involves 'tail-chopping'.
Many verbs of Latin origin end in -ate. All you have to do here is knock off the -te. confiscate becomes KONFISKA.
Always substitute K for hard Latin c. So canine becomes KANI, feline FELI.
Some words ending -age are of French origin. These can be kept giving MESAGE, FOLIAGE.
No double letters in Glosa, except on a few occasions where a well-trilled r may have a good echoic effect. Some examples;
English GLOSA delicious DELICI degenerate DEGENERA industrialize INDUSTRI subsequent SUBSEQUE contortion KONTORTI population POPULA
In 99 % of all cases this simple method will work perfectly, but occasionally some part of the suffix may be found useful and can be retained.
Words ending -ism add -o. REALISMO. KOMUNISMO. Words ending -ist add -i. REALISTI. FATALISTI. Words ending -ment add -a. PARLAMENTA. MOVIMENTA.
Biological and medical terms remain unchanged; OAKTREE is QUERKUS. K can be substituted for Latin C. Musical terms remain unchanged, many of these were listed in PGN 16. Eg. KRESCENDO, FORTISIMO, DIMUNENDO, ACELERANDO. French endings like -age above should be given the French pronounciation.
Another possibility of variety arises from the fact that the Latin verb has two parts, each of which gives rise to great numbers of Euro-verbs. Eg;
to see infinitive VIDE as in VIDEO
past participle VISum as in VISion.
So for GLOSA 'to see' can be rendered by VIDE or VISI. Other examples;
join together i. NEKT as in conNECT
pp. NEXU as in NEXUs.
to lead i. DUCE as in reDUCE
pp. DUCT as in conDUCT.
In PGN 35 there was an article on PACTERM, Pan-African-Centre for TERMinology, centredin Addis Ababa. All the participants at a recent seminar in Ethiopia agreed that a term should be recognized as international when it appeared in French, German, Russian and English. We use a very large German-Russian Dictionary published in Moscow by A. A. Lepinga & Straxhovoi.
See also, the article about INFOTERM in this issue.
It has been said that if all the words of Greek origin were suddenly removed from the world's dictionaries all intelligent conversation would come to an end. Nowadays scientists turn almost exclusively to Greek for new terminology. Three ways by which you can recognize words of Greek origin.
1) There are many double consonants. Eg; PSYCHOLOGY, CATARRH, RHYTHM, THEME, ARCHITECT, HYPHEN, PNEUMONIA. 2) There are many diphthongs; Eg EUPHONY, HAEMOGLOBIN 3) All those words in which ch is pronounced like a k. Eg; ARCHITECT, CHARACTER.
The Greek words are not quite so familiar yet as the Latin, but they are daily becoming ever more so. TELE-SCOPE, SYMBOL, SYMPTOM, SYMPHONY are all Greek, and they never have undergone any changes. They are however far more international than the Latin. They probably make up a half of Glosa 6000; and the Advanced Glosa Dictionary is almost entirely Greek.
[There is an article in "Plu Glosa Nota", no. 81 about deriving Glosa words from Italian. Unfortunately I have not got it. Perhaps it is interesting here. Does anybody have it? On page 2 of PGN 82 (this issue I have) there is written:]
In PGN 81 na pa dice komo Glosa pote uti moderno Italiano de
gene id Mega lexiko. ...
Posi Glosa pote prende plu participi pasato, - ..ATO, -ITO, -ETO
e -ABILI; kausa plu-ci parola-fini es proxi universali in plu
Euro-lingua. ...
Holo infinito ko -ARE, ERE, IRE diveni -A, -E, -I.
[Below is an introduction to the word derivation of Latino sine Flexione/ Interlingua de Peano from the book "Key to Interlingua", Torino 1931. LsF is another international auxiliary language, that is quite similar to Glosa. Of course, these ideas are not valid for Glosa, but maybe nevertheless interesting here. The following text is stolen from Jay Bowks's Europeano-site, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/2948/ ]
...
1. Interlingua adopts every word common to English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and every Anglo-Latin word;
2. Every word, Which exists in Latin, has the form of the Latin stem or root or radical;
...
A few necessary classical Latin words without international equivalents are a part of the vocabulary. It takes also non-Latin words already in international use, adopting them in the forms which they bear in the language of their origin, unless some other form is more convenient. The 1915 edition of Peano's Vocabulario Commune contains 14,000 words which have currency in the leading nations.
...
A few general rules make possible the compilation of an Interlingua
glossary. If a word has many forms in Latin because of inflections or
declensions and conjugations, the inflections are suppressed and the
stem, root, or radical is adopted to give the Interlingua form.
Interlingua adopts as the stem or root of nouns the Latin ablative case
which gives the most important part of the word. The Latin dictionary
gives two forms for each noun, e.g.: rosa, rosae--rose; pes,
pedis = foot. The first of these forms is called the
nominative, the second, genitive. Interlingua uses the genitive and from
the Latin dictionary the ablative is established by use of the following:
Genitive endings: -ae -i -us -ei -is; are changed to
Ablative endings: -a -o -u -e -e, which then become
the Interlingua endings and forms.
The stem of the verb is obtained by dropping the ending of the Latin infinitive -re, which gives the Interlingua word.
Uninflected Latin words are adopted without change when there is only one form: id, et, circa, post; if there is a declensional suffix, it may be omitted, e.g., secundum = secundo; multum = multo.
...
1. NOUNS
Any Latin dictionary gives two forms for each noun, for instance:
rosa, rose = rose; pes, pedis = foot. The first form is called
nominative, the second genitive. The Interlingua nouns are taken from
the Latin genitive form, by changing the genitive ending in accordance
with the following table:
latin Genitive ending: -ae -i -us -ei -is
Interlingua ending: -a -o -u -e -e
Examples Words of Latin Vocabulary Interlingua Words English Words Nominative Genitive rosa rosae rosa rose laurus lauri lauro laurel casus casus casu case series seriei scrie series pax pacis pace peace
A few nouns are used in their nominative forms to avoid confusion with other words:
"mas" --English "male."
Nouns used only in the plural in Latin may take the following Interlingua endings:
1. -a, when the Latin nominative plural ends in -a, as:
Latin--arma, Interlingua--arma, English--arms.
2. -a or -as, when the plural nominative ends in -Ee, as:
L.--divitiae. IL.--divitia or divitias. E.--riches.
3. -os, when the plural nominative ends in -i, as:
L.--liberi. IL.--liberos. E.--children.
4. -e or -es, when the nominative plural ends in -es, as:
L.--majores. IL.--majore or majores. E.--ancestry.
2. ADJECTIVES
The Latin vocabulary gives the nominative of the three genders, and in some instances the genitive.
The Interlingua form is obtained:
I. from the nominative neuter:
(a) by leaving it unchanged when it ends by e;
(b) by changing it to o when it ends in um;
II. from the genitive form in all other instances:
(c) by changing to e the enaing is as in the case of nouns.
Examples Latin Interlingua English celeber celebris celebre celebre celebrated novus nova novum novo new audax audax audax audacis audace audacious
3. VEBBS
The Latin vocabulary gives the present indicative and the present infinitive. By dropping the ending of the infinitive -re, the Interlingua form is obtained.
There are a few exceptions: dic, duc, es, fac, fer, vol.
4. UNINFLECTED WORDS
If they have one single form, this is the Interlingua form: e.g. ab, ad, ante, circa, etc.
If they have a declensional suffix, it may be omitted:
secundum = secundo.
multum = multo.
B. DERIVATIVE WORDS AND COMPOVNDS
Many derivative words are in international use. New ones can be freely formed, as in English, from the words already in use, by the attachment of prefixes and suffixes, provided the meaning warrants such formation. For example, the ending " -atione " denotes a process, " -tia " denotes a quality, " -ico" denotes pertaining to, " -iza " ends a verb denoting the admixture of one thing with another, " -tore " denotes a person who performs the act indicated by the stem of the word, etc.
The commonest suffixes and prefixes are given below.
Suffixes Examples English Interlingua English Interlingua -ism -ismo protectionism protectionismo -ic -ico electric electrico -id -ido splendid splendido -ist -ista feminist feminista -al -ale general generale -an -ano American americano -ary -ario aviary aviario -aster -astro poetaster poetastro -ble -bile stable stabile -el -elo,-ela sequel sequela -or,-our -ore colo(u)r colore -tive -tivo punitive punitivo -ous -oso famous famoso -ate -ato suhlimate sublimato -er -tore maker factore -tor -tore actor actore -ty -tate quality qualitate -tion -tione declaration declaratione -cy -tia tendency tendentia -ce -tia elegance elegantia -e -io spectroscope spectroscopio -y -ia zoology zoologia -fy -fico justify justifica -esque -esco statuesque statuesco
The ending -ed as in "faced " (having faces) may be rendered with cum: cum vultu or cum superficie; cornered (having corners,) cum angulo.
Prefixes Examples English Interlingua English Interlingua anti- anti anti-suffragist antisuffragista auto- auto- automobile automobile self- auto- self-induction auto-inductione well bene- wellsaid benedicto co- co- co-operator cooperatore dis- dis- dismember dismembra im- im- immortal immortale in- in- inability inhabilitate inter- inter- interact interacto mis- male- misform maleforma pan- pan- pan-asiatic panasiatico by- (beside) para- by-product para-producto pseudo- pseudo- pseudonym pseudonymo quasi- quasi- quasi-official quasi-officiale re- re- reexamine reexamina sub- sub- subterranean subterraneo super- super- superman superhomine
As indicated above, "bene" may be used to render the prefix "well" either separately or combined: bene consiliato or beneconsiliato or benconsiliato = well-advised; "male" may likewise be used to render " ill- " or " mis- ": male famato or malefamato or malfamato = ill-famed; male conceptione or maleconceptione or malconceptione= misconception.
The prefixing of the negative "ne" or "non" may ordinarily be used to denote the contrary. The preposition "sine" may be used to denote lacking, like the suffls "-less" in English.
The pronoun "qui" with a verb indicates the person performing the action, "que" with a verb denotes the instrument used in performing it, "quem" with a verb indicates the person on whom or the object on which the action is performed.
Adjectives may be formed by means of "de";
de fratre = fraterno = fraternal.
Intransitive verbs may be formed with the help of "fi" = become; transitive with the help of "fac" = make. Fi albo = albo fi = albofi = to become white = to whiten (intransitive). Fac albo = albo fac = albofac = to make white = to whiten (transitive). Verbs, however, may be used as transitive or intransitive, if the meaning in that sentence is unequivocal. Other verbs may be formed by means of "es" = to be; redde = to render = to make; da = to givc. Es causa de = to cause; es flexo = to sag; redde triste = to sadden; to make sad; redde nullo = to annul = to render void; da animo = to encourage = to give courage.
6. ADOPTION OF ADDITIONAL WORDS
A few Latin words not in international use are also adopted. Also, words are taken from any language if in international use.
7. INTERRELATION OF PARTS OF SPEECH
The same word may be used as verb or as noun, either without any change, or with a slight change of the ending in accordance with rules elsewhere given. Adjectives may be used as adverbs.
ORTHOGRAPHY
Latin words retain the old orthography.
Proper names of persons and places maintain their national orthography as far as possible: New York, Washington, Roma, etc.
...
4. ADVERBS FROM ADJECTIVE8These are obtained by mcans of: cum mente, in modo
cum mente diligente, }
cum diligente mente, }
} = diligently
in modo diligente, }
in diligente modo, }
in modo fraterno }
} = fraternally
in modo de fratre }
Or the adjectives may be used as adverbs without any change.
- Some words are derived regularly from the classical words, like Peano suggested. Indefinite words remain as they are (ad, de, si, Greek: kata). -a, -ae get (from ablativus) -a (silva), -us, -us get -u (manu), -is, -is get -i (turi), adjectives -us/-a/-um get -o (karo), verbs with -ere get -e (face), with -are: -a (lauda), -ire: -i (veni). - Same with greek. Greek has no ablativus, so take dativus: -os, -u gets -o (fobo, orto). - Greek verbs get -o (1st person singular) (skizo) - Latin o-declination-words get the nominativus plural. So -us, -i get -i (rami, soni, tubi) -er, -ri get -ri (libri [book]) -um, -i get -a (exempla) - Latin -io, -ionis do not get ablativus-ending -ione but keep the nominativs -io (natio, okasio, petitio, religio, tensio). [My personal opinion: -ione is too long, okay, but even -io is a part-of-speech-marker. Is it one syllable (-yo) or two (-ee-ow)? No, there are two. But then it is too long, I think. A lot of these words are derived from verbs. "pete" and "tende"?] - (I suppose: Some Latin words are in international use mainly with their perfect-tense-root. So they took this root. That could be reasonable.) Words built from the perfect-tense-root get -i (I suppose because of 1st person singular ending.) (cepti, fluxi, komposi) - (I suppose for the same reason, international use:) Sometimes the Greek aorist-root is taken instead of present-tense-root (gene). - Species names keep nominativus (equs, ursus).
A systematical research is needed: examining the words, looking up their Greek or Latin origins, sorting them into a scheme of Latin/Greek conjugations/declinations and then look, how the Glosa words are built, especially the ending vowels and then formulate a new word derivation system.
(Adverbien (Umstandswörter, adverbs), Präpositionen (Verhältniswörter, prepositions), Konjunktionen (Bindewörter, conjunctions), Interjektionen (Ausrufewörter, interjections))
Suggestion of Peano for his language (Interlingua de Peano/ Latino sine Flexione): Particles and interjections remain as they are. Glosa seems to follow this suggestion.
a, ad - at; to; towards
o: ad
c: OK. The short form "a" is in Latin the short form to "ab",
meaning "away", the contrary. But "a" for "ad" is acceptable,
cf. French.
ab - absent; away; from; off
o: ab
(Adverbien (Umstandswörter, adverbs), Präpositionen (Verhältniswörter, prepositions), Konjunktionen (Bindewörter, conjunctions), Interjektionen (Ausrufewörter, interjections))
(Marcel Springer, www.glosa.org, 2000-10-18, 2002-02-15, 2006-03-25)