[lojban-beginners] help with lujvo kilga'axa'i

[henka stickebana <henka.stickebana@gmail.com>]

Hello all,

I'm trying to learn Lojban by writing a simple reader. I've a fish  
spear in my story.

I'd like to understand how the lojban for spear "kilga'axa'i" came  
about, (as new?) in the 6th Edition of the Lojban-English dictionary  
pdf.

It's a quite complex word for a 'reader', and given that spears are  
not very complex it is somewhat inappropriate.

Let me digress.

I'd like to write a 'reader' which humans can relate to from across a  
wide geographic background. Not culturally neutral so much as what  
might be common to humanity given our wide geographic spread. So I've  
storyboarded a short 'reader' like text hoping to illustrate it with  
examples of the logic of lojban. I'd be aiming for a Lojban only text  
(though in might end up tri- or quad-lingual).

Anyway, I've almost immediately found that because of Lojban's  
originary bias to be gainfully neutral it is quite lacking (perhaps  
the wrong word) in fairly 'simple' 'everyday' stuff.
[end digression]

Like spear. From online dictionary:

Word: kilga'axa'i [jbovlaste]
        Type: lujvo
  Gloss Word: lance
  Gloss Word: spear
  Gloss Word: javelin
  Definition: $x_1=xa_1=g_1=k_1$ is a lance/spear/javelin/pointed- 
rod weapon
       for use against $x_2=xa_2$ by $x_3=xa_3$ of material x4.
       Notes: kinli grana xarci; this lujvo structure is from
       noralujv. The author of this definition is uncertain that
       jesxa'i would not be a better lujvo for the purpose.

from  kinli	sharp
	grana	cane/pole/rod/staff
	xarci	weapon


I'd like to suggest that the last of these three root gismu is  
unnecessary as not all sharp poles are weapons, which, in English at  
least tend to refer to objects intend to harm humans, and so  
willfully design to be so. A fish spear can be used as a weapon, but  
is not necessarily a weapon.

How do I go about address this?

kinli grana would be enough of a tanru, and while this would be  
enough to refer to both hunting/fish spears and digging sticks, if  
not crow bars or jemmy/pinch bars, would a more appropriate lujvo not  
be:
kinna (not currently in dictionary? I'm unsure.)
instead of
kilga'axa'i
which could be restricted to weapons designed to be used against  
humans????


Back to the digression.

My to-be-written 'reader' assumes that many elements of a hunter- 
gather lifestyle are common to humans but this technology is not  
basic to lojban grammar or vocab. As indeed Indo-european's farming  
vocabulary set is not basic to Lojban either.

cheers
maikas