The unofficial affixes: what official means, and -iv-

Esperanto has about forty official affixes and a second, unofficial list that every big dictionary records. Two unofficial suffixes are worth recognising: -iv- (able to do) and -oz- (a disease, or full of). Read them; build with official parts. And aktiva is one borrowed root, not an -iv- word.

What official means

An affix is official when it is in the Fundamento of 1905 or in one of the Akademio's Oficialaj Aldonoj. It says nothing about quality, and unofficial does not mean forbidden.

PMEG lists ten official prefixes and thirty-one suffixes. The prefixes:

bo- ĉef- dis- ek- eks- ge- mal- mis- pra- re-

Other lists differ: many textbooks also count fi- (fihomo, a scoundrel), which the Fundamento has only as an exclamation. And ĉef- is very often an ordinary root (ĉefa, main).

Three came later, and PMEG dates each:

-end- attaches only to verbs that take an object, and PMEG calls it rare:

• La fakturo estas pagenda. - The bill is to be paid.

Three additions in over a century, because new affixes rarely take. PMEG:

Novaj ordinaraj radikoj facile eniras en la lingvon, ĉar por ili ne validas specialaj reguloj, sed novaj afiksoj malofte sukcesas hejmiĝi en Esperanto.

New roots enter the language easily, because no special rules apply to them; new affixes rarely settle in.

Dead, look-alike and live suffixes

PMEG files each use of an unofficial suffix under one of three labels. The same three letters can be all three:

So sklerozo (sclerosis) and grandioza (grand) are single roots; virusozo is viruso plus a suffix.

Dead suffixes are there because international words come in whole, Latin packaging and all (Rule 15). So for -iv-:

• Ŝi estas tre aktiva. - She is very active.

The test is the meaning: kreiva is krei plus "able to", but aktiva is not akto (a deed) plus anything. Dictionaries file it under its own root.

-iv-: able to do

The Reta Vortaro defines -iv- as an unofficial suffix of active ability, while the Fundamento's -ebl- expresses passive ability.

• pagebla prezo - an affordable price (it can be paid)
• kreiva aŭtoro - a creative author (able to create)

PMEG calls -iv- fairly often used, then warns: IV ne estas ĝenerale konata - IV is not generally known. It recommends official builds every reader understands:

One misuse PMEG names: kreiva written where plain krea is meant, with no ability in it.

• la krea procezo - the creative process (the process of creating), not kreiva

If the word does not mean "able to", -iv- is the wrong suffix.