Subject: Re: [lojban] Epictetus, Discourses 1.1

From: "Jorge Llambias" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 06 Sep 2001 02:35:03

la nitcion cusku di'e

> >Any reason to prefer {zo'e pe ji'o ma'a} over {lo se jitro be ma'a}?
>
>Yes: the Mark Shoulson school of translation :-) . The original has
>"about the under us and the not under us."

But {le se jitro be ma'a} seems closer than {zo'e pe ji'o ma'a}
to "the under us"...

>Damn, I forgot that {na} has scope over the bridi rather than the
>bridi-tail; I assumed it functioned like {naku} there. So noted.

We all generally tend to assume that, actually. I always spend too
much time figuring out what a bridi with {na} really means. Maybe
usage will just redefine {na} as having scope over the bridi-tail
only. Are there other languages that have their negatives work as
in Lojban?

>I was being elliptical, but please tell me if I was being
>actually wrong (I'm assuming you can decide things as well as
>propositions; should I?) Fully expanded:
>
>.i ganai lo ba se ciska cu se claxu do;
>gi do jdice sepi'o le genske ledu'u le ba se ciska cu mokau

If you lack something to write, then you use grammar to decide
what to write?

> >>do banoroi se fanta gi'e banoroi se rinju
> >>gi'e bana crocmo gi'e bana te mabla ja te zanba su'o prenu
>
> >I don't understand {te mabla ja te zabna su'o prenu}.
>
>Don't see why. "You shall not curse or flatter any man." The Lojban
>distorts this somewhat, but I think it distorts it in the right direction.
>Problem is, of course, we've rarely seen {mabla} or {zanba} as gismu as
>opposed to rafsi, so it's not a given that this is how they're used.

Well, I use them like this:

mabla: x1 stinks/is shitty/second-rate in aspect x2 according to x3.
(In esperanto: x1 acxas je x2 laux x3)
zabna: x1 is super/cool/first-class in aspect x2 according to x3.

The gi'uste gives a much less useful definition:
Word x1 is a derogatory form of (word?) x2 as used by x3.

Your use fits neither, so what is your definition?

mu'o mi'e xorxes

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