On Tuesday, February 14, 2012 01:20:37 MorphemeAddict wrote:
> Are all these definitions in {lojbo jufsisku} right? I'm
> wondering specifically about "telgau" and related forms.
> telga'o
> *lujvo* g1=s2 is locked, preventing access to g2 by g3, the lock being s1
> using mechanism s3. Cf. stela, ganlo, telgau, ga'orgau.
>
> telgau
> *lujvo* g1 locks lock s1 on s2 by mechanism s3.
> Cf. stela, gasnu, telga'o, ga'orgau.
>
> telcaugau
> *lujvo* g1 unlocks/unseals c1=s2 using lock/seal s1 with mechnism s3.
> Cf. stela, claxu, gasnu, toltelgau, telga'o, ga'orgau.
>
> toltelgau
> *lujvo* g1 unlocks lock s1 on s2 by mechanism s3.
> Cf. to'e, stela, gasnu, telgau, telga'o, telcaugau, kargau.
I think "lock" and "unlock" should be "telga'ogau" and "telkargau". "telgau",
I think, should mean "to put a lock on", that is, if you have a door with a
hole for a lock, you put a lock in it. "telcaugau" would then mean "to make
something lockless", and "toltelgau" makes me wonder what a "tolstela" (an
unlock?) is. (There are two prefixes "un-" in English; one is from "*anti" and
may be closer in meaning to "fat-", and the other is from "*ne" and means
"tol-" or "nal-". Some words, such as "untied", can have either and it's
sometimes hard to tell which.) Something can have a lock and not be locked.
How does "gasnu" fit into the words for 'lock' or 'unlock' or 'add a lock to', i.e., telgau, toltelgau, telcaugau. It seems to me that the "gau" component should be "ga'o", but there is a separate word "telga'o", not equal to "telgau".