janKipo wrote:pakala! I was just on the last line of my reply, when everything vanished, not to be recovered. So, here is what I remember of my responses.
容 seems to be a perfect match for English "can", both permission and container, but it does work for 'poki'.
容 is listed simply as "for" with not further explanation, but it hard to imagine how that fits with "do, make"
入 is listed merely as "enter" which works somewhat with 'lupa' as door and probably contrasts with 出, which must mean "exit" somewhere it all its "out" (but never "up") meanings.
合 may do for 'kulupu', though it wanders pretty far afield from classes and masses and unions and the like.
The problem with 目 is that 'oko' is likely to stay around and mean "eye" while 目 never means "see". Similarly 耳 never means "hear". So maybe accuracy has to trump simplicity (or maybe not).
I am not a fan of the 'ale' = 100 school (and 1000 or 10 000 would be worse, though the latter is certainly used for totalities in Chinese). Is there really no Chinese word for just "all" or "whole" or "totality"?
I agree that "dragon" is bad for 'akesi' even though probably its most common use was for (Western) dragons. 'lizard' is just right (it's the meaning of the source word in Dutch).
On 'a', avoiding the negative words is good, but still, the word you use for 'o' seems just right.
A brief stay on the flip side of the system I used to check your list provides these suggestions for words that still trouble me:
ali 凡 (half a dozen alternatives, this is just the simplest)
jaki 秽 (the only single word that fits)
kulupu 组 (a couple others also fit pretty well)
kama 成 (others, none perfect, of course)
lupa 孔 (several others if you don't like using the Master's name, but it is simple and covers just about the right territory).
nena 山 (what I expected, though it looks less like your character than I remembered)
pali 做 (and others)
I don't know what to do about the particles. Chinese must have a way of dealing with the problem that tp has for which the particles are designed, but apparently it is different and so there are not a subject (or predicate) particle and a direct object particle. I have no idea how Chinese form imperatives or expresses wishes and exhoratations, so I don't know what to look for for 'o'
'la',on the other hand, seems to be exactly 才
I'm so sorry for you typing your reply again.
one thing has to be clear.we are talking about Classical Chinese(文言文) here, not any Modern Chinese(現代漢語) like Mandarin and Cantonese. And that is important! They even looks like two irrelevant languages. If you want to search for a character's meaning to Classical Chinese, I recommend this website to you, (zdic.net), it has the Modern in ‘基本解釋’and ‘詳細解釋’, and also the Classical in ‘康熙字典’and ‘說文解字’。
爲 certainly have the meaning of “do and act”, it has the words “助紂爲虐” ,helping the tyrant doing evil things.
容 don't have the meaning of being possible for something to happen. so it is not a perfect match for English ‘can’.
I really doubt if 出 fits. maybe 凸 meaning bulge out is better, but it has the phrase 凸出, so..... I dont know. both ok I guess.
合 is ‘combine, unite, join; gather’(said at zdic.net).
目 do mean ‘look’, while 耳 don’t mean ‘hear’, but in Classical Chinese, it is quite common to turn a noun into a verb meaning 'to use/be the noun’.
100 for ale is bad really, 凡 is really a perfect fit.
I see you recommend 兮 for ‘a’, I do think it fits really good , but what’s for “o”? I think it seem Chinese , both Modern and Classical , do not have imperatives words . but for getting other’s attention , a common emotion word can fit. I don’t know.
ali 凡is perfect
jaki 穢 is much better than 毒
kulupu 組 not good. 組 is some kind of silk or ribbon, the Modern Chinese word “組織group” originally means ‘sew with the silk ’. I think 合 is better , it do mean ‘unite/gather’.
kama 成. don't have the meaning of coming. bad.
lupa 孔 is much better really. btw, nowadays no one really avoiding any Master's name for taboo, hahaaha.
nena 山.. I just can‘t help imaging me calling my nose hill . How big is it !!
pali 做. really bad. 做 is an informal word for 作. And 作 meaning both happen/arise and act/do. 爲 is the best , I still think so.
particles:
li 則 is a almost perfect fit. it is said‘又《韻會》助辭,又然後之辭。《論語》行有餘力,則以學文。’in 《康熙字典》. so it means ‘somebody then doing something’.
e 于 is very good. it means ‘for/towards/to/in/at’
la 而 good . it is for connecting two sentences. it means ‘because/at the same time/and then/and’. 才(纔) is bad , in Classical , it means ‘only’and ‘cut’ and ‘wood’, so disturbing..
pi 之 the best it can be. 'A之B' means 'B of A', you just have to change the order.