Subject: RE: [lojban] From the Wiki: The 17 tallest men

From: "And Rosta" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:48:38 +0100

Nick:
> The question on "How do you say the 17 tallest men" came up in the Wiki;
> this is what I've proposed, but I think it should be more widely
> discussed:
[...]
> I think that if you
> have more than a singleton in the x1 of ''traji'', they can reasonably be
> presumed to be ranked #1, #2, #3...

Not merely presumed, because ##1-17 will collectively rank higher than
any other 17mei selected from the same parent set. But the 17mei ranks
superlatively not in height but in something like the property of
having members that are taller than other members of the same parent
set. Fatigue deters me from trying to say that in Lojban.

I've never been sure whether {traji} is supposed to mean 'extreme,
maximal', like Italian _-issim-_, or whether it means 'the most', 'more
X than all other Y are', like Italian _il piu_. I can't work it out
from the place structure:

x1 is superlative in property x2 (ka), the x3 extreme (ka; default 
ka zmadu) among set/range x4 

Clearly it's the latter sense that's required here.

--And.