Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of deĵori
Coloured illustration of deĵori
#2177 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

to be on duty

Word origin

A fossil of the French phrase de jour, of the day. The officier de jour was the officer whose turn it was that day, and the whole phrase came into Esperanto as one root, deĵor-, with the seam sealed over.

Origin
French
Root
de jour
English cognates
journal, journey, sojourn

Examples

?

Who is on duty today?

.

She was on duty all night at the hospital.

.

Two soldiers are on duty at the door.

is a fossil, and it belongs to the same class as : the history is genuine, but the joint has fused and you cannot open it in Esperanto.

The French phrase is jour, of the day. In a barracks or a hospital the officier jour was whoever's turn it was that day, and the phrase attached itself to the idea of the rota - being the one who is on. Esperanto took the whole thing in as a single root, deĵor-, and there the trail stops. It looks as though it should divide, because really is an Esperanto preposition and sits right there at the front, but ĵor is not a root, and a French preposition plus a French noun is not an Esperanto compound however French the pieces were when they set out.

What it means in use: to be on duty, to be the one on the rota, to be manning the post. Not the general "to work" - that is - and not "to serve" in the sense of serving somebody, which is . is specifically about the shift.

The derivations are ordinary once you accept the root: deĵoro is a spell of duty or a shift, deĵoranto is the person currently on it, and o the duty room. The same French jour is behind English journal, journey and sojourn, all of them measured out in days.

Where this fits

Add to review queue

Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.

Go to my review queue

Esperanto · Free printables

deĵori: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "deĵori" (to be on duty): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

Free for members

The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.

Start your free week

This word is part of lesson 44.