administri

A false seam with a true story behind it. Administri looks like ad- plus ministri, and ministro at rank 1,755 is a live word in this course, so the temptation is real. It does not work. Esperanto has no productive ad- prefix, only the -ad- suffix for continuing action, and there is no verb ministri either. Administri came over as one borrowed root, exactly like inspiri.

But the Latin genuinely is what it looks like. Administrare really was ad plus ministrare, to serve towards something, and minister really was the servant. So the two Esperanto words are cousins by descent even though they are strangers by construction, and a government minister is, etymologically, a servant. Latin built minister against magister the way it built minus against magis: the lesser one and the greater one. The master ended up teaching and the servant ended up running the country, which is a joke Latin has been telling quietly for two thousand years.

The fence with regi. Regi at rank 541 is to rule or govern: it has power in it. Administri is to look after the running of something on behalf of somebody else. A king regas; a treasurer administras. Administrado is the activity, administranto or administristo is the person, and administracio is the apparatus.