Kilo Lingo

Line drawing of superstiĉo
Coloured illustration of superstiĉo
#2750 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

superstition

Word origin

From Latin superstitio, built on superstare, to stand over or stand near. Roman writers used it for excessive, frightened religious observance, and the standing-over image is usually read as the awe of somebody hanging over a rite. The seam is real in Latin and gone in Esperanto.

Origin
Latin
Root
superstitio
English cognates
superstition

Examples

.

Many people still believe in old superstitions.

, .

That is not science, it is superstition.

.

The superstition about the number thirteen is very old.

Not super plus something. The word starts with the preposition super, which is a genuine Esperanto word meaning above, and a learner who cuts there is left holding stiĉo, which is not a word in this language at all. There is no stiĉ- root. is one indivisible borrowing, and the test is the one the affix articles keep recommending: if the remainder after the cut is not itself a root, there was no cut.

And yet the seam was real once. Latin superstitio really is super plus stare, to stand: standing over, standing near. Which sense of standing over the Romans meant is argued about, and the likeliest reading is the posture of somebody hovering anxiously above a rite, doing it too much and too fearfully. Cicero used the word as an insult, against as the proper sort of observance. So this belongs with inspiri and maniko: the join you can see is real in the source language and dead in Esperanto, which is a much more interesting fact than a simple false friend.

Using it. Superstiĉa is the adjective, and it goes on people as well as beliefs: superstiĉa , a superstitious sailor. o is somebody given to them. The neighbours are magio, which is the craft; sorĉi, which is to work it; and kutimo, a habit, which is what most superstitions actually are once the belief has drained out of them.

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Esperanto · Free printables

superstiĉo: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 55.