Unofficial Esperanto Affixes: -oz-, -iv- and the Rest

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.

-oz-: disease, chemistry, full of

-oz- does three jobs, and the sources treat them differently:

The full-of sense has a real literary record. The Reta Vortaro cites, among others:

• muskoloa muscle
• haroa hair
• sablosand

Yet PMEG prints coinages like sabloza and sukoza between asterisks, its mark for "avoid this", and recommends compounds or plain adjectives instead. ReVo's own note agrees that -riĉ-, -plen- and -hav- are easier to understand:

• La strando estas sabloriĉa. - The beach is sandy.

-esk- and -al-: rare, and never adopted

-esk- means "in the manner of": ReVo cites Invit' al japanesko, a 1971 poetry collection, and ĉineska arkitekturo, Chinese-style architecture. Both ReVo and PMEG say -ec- normally does the job.

-al- in the sense "relating to" was offered to fill a real gap: varma means hot, so what means "about heat"? PMEG's verdict:

• Tiu propono neniam realiĝis en la lingvo. - That proposal never came about in the language.

Use a phrase (pri varmo) or a compound (varmorilata). As a botanical suffix for plant orders (rozaloj), -al- does live, inside botany.

Technical affixes: inside their field only

Most unofficial affixes belong to an international naming system. PMEG's rule for them: use them in that field and nowhere else.

-olog- and -ologi- work only where an international word already ends that way, as science in Esperanto explains. Even in medicine PMEG prefers the plain word: orelinflamo.

Unofficial prefixes split into one to use and several to avoid:

• Ni televidis la kongreson. - We watched the congress on TV.

Should you coin a new affix?

PMEG opens its chapter on unofficial affixes with exactly this:

La boneco de la Esperanta vortfarado tamen ne troviĝas en la afiksa sistemo, sed ĝenerale en la eblo libere krei kunmetitajn vortojn.

The strength of Esperanto word building is not in the affix system but in the freedom to make compounds. When a word is missing, reach for a compound before an invention. How far a reader will follow you:

PMEG does not forbid anything: Multaj neoficialaj fakaj afiksoj funkcias tute bone, kaj oni uzu ilin libere sur iliaj apartaj uzokampoj. - Many unofficial technical affixes work perfectly well, and one should use them freely in their own fields.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Learn the official forty first: every reader knows them.
2. Recognise -iv- and -oz-; when you write, use produktema, sabloriĉa and their kind.
3. When a word is missing, build a compound.

See also

• Who decides what is correct Esperanto? - the Fundamento, the Akademio and what official membership buys.
• Affixes as words - most official affixes as standalone words, roots doing affix work, and the false-decomposition trap this article refines.
• Word building - the official machinery, which is where to start.
• Compounding - the freedom PMEG says matters more than the affixes.
• Science in Esperanto - Rule 15, and why biologio is one word.
• Gender in Esperanto - -iĉ-° and -ip-°, two of the unofficial proposals that carry the most argument.
• The ĥ question - ĥemio against kemio, another case of the dictionaries recording a change rather than making one.
• False friends - the other way a Latin-looking word misleads an English speaker.