On Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 9:50 PM, Luke Bergen
<lukeabergen@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm not even sure what that point was? It sounded like he was making an argument against fu'ivla when lujvo CAN be made. e.g. swift theives.
I think in general it's a good idea to go with lujvo for things, but one rule of thumb that I try to go by is "does this word seem to get copied from language to language? If so, maybe it should be copied to lojban". e.g. "hypnotism" comes from the french "hypnotique" which comes from the latin "hypnoticus" so I would most likely expect to see this as a fu'ivla. It could also arguably be a lujvo, but since people have been copying it around for millenia from language to language. Why not continue that with something like {xipnrtismu} or the like instead of making either some ungodly lujvo to explain what it is in modern day or some completely off the wall thing based off of what it originally meant? e.g. (respectively) {menjitrvelmikce} or {cnosipna}.
Actually, I kind of like {cnosipna} for hypnotism.
My argument is that someone who's first language is lojban will know instantly that {la sutra zerle'a cpidze} is a velociraptor if that is how the person is taught, and further more will have an instant understanding of why it is named that. The velociraptor wasn't given the Latin name "swift thief" for no reason. The evidence is that the velociraptor was exceedingly quick, hunting in packs, and if you don't think the taking of your prey's life isn't theft....
As such, calling it {la sutra zerle'a cpizde} not only uniquely identifies the species, as there is only one species of bird ancestor that is called the swift-thief, but it also provides the jbopre with an fairly accurate meaning for the creature. calling a Velociraptor a, for example, {verlokirapto}, while being somewhat more recognizable to foreigners learning lojban, conveys no inherent meaning, and only conveys that the word is the creature's name.
In the same vein, I would call the predator birds of modern times {le cipna be la zerle'a} collectively, with something more specific to for individual species, such as {le cipni be la zerle'a be sekai lo blabi stedu} for the Bald Eagle.