Esperanto profanity
Encyclopedia
Esperanto profanity is the profane
or indecent
vocabulary of Esperanto
. Some profane words in Esperanto were formulated out of the core vocabulary established in this constructed language; or by giving specific profane or indecent senses to regularly formed Esperanto words. Others represent informal neologisms that remain technically outside of the defined vocabulary of the language, but have become established by usage.
s": religious or impious references used as interjection
s, or to excoriate the subject of the speaker's anger. According to Renato Corsetti
, former president of the World Esperanto Association
, sakro is "a word or phrase used to express one's indignation or anger or similar sentiment, not directly addressed to a particular person."
Obscenity in Esperanto is called maldeca or nedeca ("indecent"), triviala, ("vulgar, indelicate, low-class"), tabua ("taboo"), pika ("sharp, stinging") or malnobla ("ignoble"). These are the Esperanto words that refer to sexual acts and bodily functions in non-clinical ways.
designed for international communication, neither interjection
s to be used in anger, nor expletive
s, nor familiar expressions for sex acts and bodily functions were priorities for Dr. Zamenhof
, and as such this sort of vocabulary does not loom large in either the Unua Libro
nor in the Fundamento de Esperanto
. According to Alos and Velkov, "(n)either Zamenhof nor the other pioneers of the international language used obscene words in their works; nevertheless, they all tried to make Esperanto a real language."
Alos and Velkov's remarks suggest a belief that a language without expletives or familiar expressions for sex acts and bodily functions is incomplete. Such a language would fail to respond to all of the situations that humans use language for. In furtherance of making Esperanto more "real" in this sense, Esperantists have created or invented the vocabulary thought to be missing. A number of important Esperantists have worked to further this effort.
In 1931, the poet Kálmán Kalocsay
published Sekretaj sonetoj ("Secret Sonnets"), a poem cycle on erotic
themes, that helped circulate some of the unofficial root words that form part of the basis of familiar sexual expressions in Esperanto. In 1981, Hektor Alos and Kiril Velkov published a small pamphlet on Tabuaj vortoj en Esperanto: vortaro, kun ekzemploj pri praktika uzado ("Taboo words in Esperanto: a dictionary with examples for practical use") that also discussed Esperanto sexual expressions and oaths; their pamphlet was distributed by the major Esperanto language book services. In 1987, Renato Corsetti
, who later became president of the World Esperanto Association
, published Knedu min, Sinjorino: tabuaj kaj insultaj esprimoj en Esperanto ("Knead me, madam! taboo and insulting expressions in Esperanto"), that also discussed this aspect of Esperanto vocabulary
, and increased its coverage of interjections and expletives. The title of Corsetti's book is an allusion to the novel, Kredu Min, Sinjorino!
("Believe Me, Madam"), a well-received original novel in Esperanto
by Cezaro Rossetti
.
. For example, one Esperanto word for "a female prostitute
" is ĉiesulino. This word, which has no direct cognate
in any European language, is confected entirely from a priori
elements belonging to Esperanto alone: a female (-in-) person (-ul-) who "belongs to everyone" (ĉies-). This last root is one of the systematically formed Esperanto correlatives
. While the word could mean anything indicated by its constituent parts, usage has confined it to this particular sense. Since Esperanto grammar regularly allows the creation of new words, it lends itself to the generation of a large number of synonyms; as an example of the process, the words publikulo ("public person"), stratulo ("street person", compare English streetwalker) and sinvendisto ("self-seller") have all been coined to refer to prostitutes.
In addition to this formation, the word putino also means a female prostitute, from a widely distributed Romance
root. Esperanto also has the formal verb prostitui, to prostitute.
Esperanto grammar allows and encourages the development of new vocabulary along these lines. The Esperanto word seksumi means "to have sexual intercourse" or, more generally, to engage in sexual activity; it combines the word for "sex" (sekso) with the indefinite kadigan
suffix -um-; fingrumi, "to masturbate
", is a similar construction on the word for "finger" (fingro); and langumi, to fellate
, from lango, "tongue" as a body part.
Other Esperanto profanities are simply the Esperanto words that name subjects invoked as oaths. The devil
(diablo) is frequently invoked in these, with phrases such as Diablo prenu! ("May the Devil take it!"), Diablo manĝu! ("May the Devil eat you!") and Kia diablaĵo! ("What a piece of deviltry!")
The fundamental vocabulary
of Esperanto contains a number of pejorative
s. The root fuŝ- means "to botch" or "to bungle", and as such figures prominently in some of these formations; a fuŝado is a FUBAR
situation. Fuŝ- also figures as a pejorative prefix
. The prefix fi- (roughly, "immoral") and the suffix -aĉ- (roughly, "bad, inferior") are also parts of the core vocabulary with pejorative functions; they have been combined to produce words such as fiaĉulo, a thoroughly disgusting person. Fek- is the Esperanto root for dung
; Alos and Velkov report encountering combinations like fikfek ("fuck-shit").
Humorous oaths refer to Esperanto culture
. The use of phrases like Aktoj de la Akademio! (Acts of the Academy!) and Fundamenta Krestomato! ("Fundamental Chrestomathy") invoke the names of Esperanto institutions and Dr. Zamenhof's books as if they were minced oath
s.
. Many of the items of the profane vocabulary do not appear in the official word list published by the Esperanto Academy. They appear, nevertheless, in standard reference works such as Gaston Waringhien
's Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto
, often with the note that they are indecent neologisms.
In 1932, Kálmán Kalocsay (writing as "Peter Peneter") publicized, if he did not invent, much of the informal sexual vocabulary of Esperanto in his poem cycle Sekretaj sonetoj ("Secret Sonnets"). The poems conclude with an appendix, also set forth in verse, that defines each of the neologisms found in the poems themselves, including Esperanto roots such as fiki, "to fuck
", borrowed from German, and kaco, "cock" in the sense of "penis
", borrowed from Italian
, and piĉo, "cunt
", borrowed from the Slavic
. One of Kalocsay's poems consists of little more than a listing of synonyms for sexual intercourse generated by the combinatory possibilities or metaphor
ically extended meanings of Esperanto words:
Once a root achieves currency in Esperanto, it becomes available to all of the derivational
processes of Esperanto grammar; so that fiki "to fuck" is the source for fikilo, a dildo
or a penis, literally a tool (-ilo) for fucking; and for many other regularly formed words.
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
or indecent
Decency
Decency is the quality or state of conforming to social or moral standards of taste and propriety.-See also:*Taste *Communications Decency Act*Public indecency*Indecent exposure*Sodomy law*Norm *Grotesque body...
vocabulary of Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
. Some profane words in Esperanto were formulated out of the core vocabulary established in this constructed language; or by giving specific profane or indecent senses to regularly formed Esperanto words. Others represent informal neologisms that remain technically outside of the defined vocabulary of the language, but have become established by usage.
Types of profanity in Esperanto
Esperanto distinguishes between profanity and obscenity (this distinction is not always made in English). Profanity in Esperanto is called sakro, after the older French sacre, and consists of what English speakers would call "oathOath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
s": religious or impious references used as interjection
Interjection
In grammar, an interjection or exclamation is a word used to express an emotion or sentiment on the part of the speaker . Filled pauses such as uh, er, um are also considered interjections...
s, or to excoriate the subject of the speaker's anger. According to Renato Corsetti
Renato Corsetti
Renato Corsetti is an Italian esperantist who served as president of the World Esperanto Association between 2001 and 2007. He was born in Rome, Italy and is a staunch defender of the idea that the people of the world should be able to communicate in a neutral and easy international language...
, former president of the World Esperanto Association
World Esperanto Association
The World Esperanto Association is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with members in 121 countries and in official relations with the United Nations and UNESCO. In addition to individual members, 70 national Esperanto organizations are affiliated to UEA...
, sakro is "a word or phrase used to express one's indignation or anger or similar sentiment, not directly addressed to a particular person."
Obscenity in Esperanto is called maldeca or nedeca ("indecent"), triviala, ("vulgar, indelicate, low-class"), tabua ("taboo"), pika ("sharp, stinging") or malnobla ("ignoble"). These are the Esperanto words that refer to sexual acts and bodily functions in non-clinical ways.
Sources of Esperanto profanity
As a planned languageConstructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
designed for international communication, neither interjection
Interjection
In grammar, an interjection or exclamation is a word used to express an emotion or sentiment on the part of the speaker . Filled pauses such as uh, er, um are also considered interjections...
s to be used in anger, nor expletive
Expletive attributive
Expletive comes from the Latin verb explere, meaning "to fill", via expletivus, "filling out". It was introduced into English in the seventeenth century to refer to various kinds of padding—the padding out of a book with peripheral material, the addition of syllables to a line of poetry for...
s, nor familiar expressions for sex acts and bodily functions were priorities for Dr. Zamenhof
L. L. Zamenhof
Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof December 15, 1859 – April 14, 1917) was the inventor of Esperanto, the most successful constructed language designed for international communication.-Cultural background:...
, and as such this sort of vocabulary does not loom large in either the Unua Libro
Unua Libro
The Unua Libro was the first publication to describe the international language Esperanto . It was first published in Russian on July 26, 1887 in Warsaw, by Dr. L.L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto. Over the next few years editions were published in Russian, Hebrew, Polish, French, German,...
nor in the Fundamento de Esperanto
Fundamento de Esperanto
The Fundamento de Esperanto is a book by L. L. Zamenhof, published in the spring of 1905. On August 9, 1905 it was made the official source for the language by the fourth article of the Declaration of Boulogne at the first World Congress of Esperanto in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France:It is considered...
. According to Alos and Velkov, "(n)either Zamenhof nor the other pioneers of the international language used obscene words in their works; nevertheless, they all tried to make Esperanto a real language."
Alos and Velkov's remarks suggest a belief that a language without expletives or familiar expressions for sex acts and bodily functions is incomplete. Such a language would fail to respond to all of the situations that humans use language for. In furtherance of making Esperanto more "real" in this sense, Esperantists have created or invented the vocabulary thought to be missing. A number of important Esperantists have worked to further this effort.
In 1931, the poet Kálmán Kalocsay
Kálmán Kalocsay
Kálmán Kalocsay , in Hungarian name order Kalocsay Kálmán is one of the foremost figures in the history of Esperanto literature...
published Sekretaj sonetoj ("Secret Sonnets"), a poem cycle on erotic
Erotica
Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...
themes, that helped circulate some of the unofficial root words that form part of the basis of familiar sexual expressions in Esperanto. In 1981, Hektor Alos and Kiril Velkov published a small pamphlet on Tabuaj vortoj en Esperanto: vortaro, kun ekzemploj pri praktika uzado ("Taboo words in Esperanto: a dictionary with examples for practical use") that also discussed Esperanto sexual expressions and oaths; their pamphlet was distributed by the major Esperanto language book services. In 1987, Renato Corsetti
Renato Corsetti
Renato Corsetti is an Italian esperantist who served as president of the World Esperanto Association between 2001 and 2007. He was born in Rome, Italy and is a staunch defender of the idea that the people of the world should be able to communicate in a neutral and easy international language...
, who later became president of the World Esperanto Association
World Esperanto Association
The World Esperanto Association is the largest international organization of Esperanto speakers, with members in 121 countries and in official relations with the United Nations and UNESCO. In addition to individual members, 70 national Esperanto organizations are affiliated to UEA...
, published Knedu min, Sinjorino: tabuaj kaj insultaj esprimoj en Esperanto ("Knead me, madam! taboo and insulting expressions in Esperanto"), that also discussed this aspect of Esperanto vocabulary
Esperanto vocabulary
The word base of Esperanto was originally defined by Lingvo internacia, published by Zamenhof in 1887. It contained some 900 root words. The rules of the language allow speakers to borrow words as needed, recommending only that they look for the most international words, and that they borrow one...
, and increased its coverage of interjections and expletives. The title of Corsetti's book is an allusion to the novel, Kredu Min, Sinjorino!
Kredu min, sinjorino!
Kredu min, sinjorino! is the title of a novel originally written in Esperanto by Cezaro Rossetti. It is listed in William Auld's Basic Esperanto Reading List and was published for the first time in 1950, the same year in which Rossetti died....
("Believe Me, Madam"), a well-received original novel in Esperanto
Esperanto literature
Esperanto literature began before the official publication of the constructed language Esperanto; the language's creator, L. L. Zamenhof, translated poetry and prose into the language as he was developing it as a test of its completeness and expressiveness, and published several translations and a...
by Cezaro Rossetti
Cezaro Rossetti
Cezaro Rossetti was a Scottish Esperanto writer.Of Italian-Swiss derivation, he was born in Glasgow and lived in Britain. Together with his younger brother, Reto Rossetti, he learned Esperanto in 1928...
.
Generated words
Some of the profane vocabulary of Esperanto is derived by giving specific and profane meanings to words formed according to the regular methods of Esperanto grammarEsperanto grammar
Esperanto is a constructed auxiliary language. A highly regular grammar makes Esperanto much easier to learn than most other languages of the world, though particular features may be more or less advantageous or difficult depending on the language background of the speaker...
. For example, one Esperanto word for "a female prostitute
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
" is ĉiesulino. This word, which has no direct cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
in any European language, is confected entirely from a priori
A priori (languages)
An a priori language is any constructed language whose vocabulary is not based on existing languages, unlike a posteriori constructed languages. Examples of a priori languages include Ro, Solresol, Mirad, Klingon, and Na'vi...
elements belonging to Esperanto alone: a female (-in-) person (-ul-) who "belongs to everyone" (ĉies-). This last root is one of the systematically formed Esperanto correlatives
Pro-form
A pro-form is a type of function word or expression that stands in for another word, phrase, clause or sentence where the meaning is recoverable from the context...
. While the word could mean anything indicated by its constituent parts, usage has confined it to this particular sense. Since Esperanto grammar regularly allows the creation of new words, it lends itself to the generation of a large number of synonyms; as an example of the process, the words publikulo ("public person"), stratulo ("street person", compare English streetwalker) and sinvendisto ("self-seller") have all been coined to refer to prostitutes.
In addition to this formation, the word putino also means a female prostitute, from a widely distributed Romance
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
root. Esperanto also has the formal verb prostitui, to prostitute.
Esperanto grammar allows and encourages the development of new vocabulary along these lines. The Esperanto word seksumi means "to have sexual intercourse" or, more generally, to engage in sexual activity; it combines the word for "sex" (sekso) with the indefinite kadigan
Placeholder name
Placeholder names are words that can refer to objects or people whose names are either temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed...
suffix -um-; fingrumi, "to masturbate
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
", is a similar construction on the word for "finger" (fingro); and langumi, to fellate
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
, from lango, "tongue" as a body part.
Other Esperanto profanities are simply the Esperanto words that name subjects invoked as oaths. The devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
(diablo) is frequently invoked in these, with phrases such as Diablo prenu! ("May the Devil take it!"), Diablo manĝu! ("May the Devil eat you!") and Kia diablaĵo! ("What a piece of deviltry!")
The fundamental vocabulary
Fundamento de Esperanto
The Fundamento de Esperanto is a book by L. L. Zamenhof, published in the spring of 1905. On August 9, 1905 it was made the official source for the language by the fourth article of the Declaration of Boulogne at the first World Congress of Esperanto in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France:It is considered...
of Esperanto contains a number of pejorative
Pejorative
Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...
s. The root fuŝ- means "to botch" or "to bungle", and as such figures prominently in some of these formations; a fuŝado is a FUBAR
FUBAR
FUBAR is an acronym that commonly means "fucked up beyond all recognition/any repair/all reason".-Etymology and history:The Oxford English Dictionary lists Yank, the Army Weekly magazine as its earliest citation: "The FUBAR Squadron.....
situation. Fuŝ- also figures as a pejorative prefix
Prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
. The prefix fi- (roughly, "immoral") and the suffix -aĉ- (roughly, "bad, inferior") are also parts of the core vocabulary with pejorative functions; they have been combined to produce words such as fiaĉulo, a thoroughly disgusting person. Fek- is the Esperanto root for dung
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
; Alos and Velkov report encountering combinations like fikfek ("fuck-shit").
Humorous oaths refer to Esperanto culture
Esperanto culture
The language Esperanto is often used to access an international culture, including a large body of original as well as translated literature. There are over 25,000 Esperanto books as well as over a hundred regularly distributed Esperanto magazines. Many Esperanto speakers use the language for...
. The use of phrases like Aktoj de la Akademio! (Acts of the Academy!) and Fundamenta Krestomato! ("Fundamental Chrestomathy") invoke the names of Esperanto institutions and Dr. Zamenhof's books as if they were minced oath
Minced oath
A minced oath is an expression based on a profanity or a taboo term that has been altered to reduce the objectionable characteristics.Many languages have such expressions...
s.
Neologisms
Other such words in Esperanto are technically "neologisms", words that were not added to the core vocabulary by Dr. Zamenhof, nor made official by the Esperanto AcademyAkademio de Esperanto
The Akademio de Esperanto is an independent body intended to control the evolution of the language Esperanto by keeping it consistent with the fundamental principles thereof. Modelled somewhat after the Académie française, it was proposed by L. L...
. Many of the items of the profane vocabulary do not appear in the official word list published by the Esperanto Academy. They appear, nevertheless, in standard reference works such as Gaston Waringhien
Gaston Waringhien
Gaston Waringhein was a French linguist, lexicographer, and Esperantist. He wrote poems as well as essays and books on linguistics...
's Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto
Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto
240px|thumb|The 2004 edition of La Plena Ilustrita Vortaro.La Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto is a monolingual dictionary of the language Esperanto...
, often with the note that they are indecent neologisms.
In 1932, Kálmán Kalocsay (writing as "Peter Peneter") publicized, if he did not invent, much of the informal sexual vocabulary of Esperanto in his poem cycle Sekretaj sonetoj ("Secret Sonnets"). The poems conclude with an appendix, also set forth in verse, that defines each of the neologisms found in the poems themselves, including Esperanto roots such as fiki, "to fuck
Fuck
"Fuck" is an English word that is generally considered obscene which, in its most literal meaning, refers to the act of sexual intercourse. By extension it may be used to negatively characterize anything that can be dismissed, disdained, defiled, or destroyed."Fuck" can be used as a verb, adverb,...
", borrowed from German, and kaco, "cock" in the sense of "penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
", borrowed from Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and piĉo, "cunt
Cunt
Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...
", borrowed from the Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
. One of Kalocsay's poems consists of little more than a listing of synonyms for sexual intercourse generated by the combinatory possibilities or metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
ically extended meanings of Esperanto words:
- Por la unua, dolĉa foj': deflori,
kaj poste: nupti, karnon miksi, trui,
seksumi, kaj koiti, kaj geĝui,
kopuli, kohabiti kaj amori.
Enpafi, ŝtopi, vosti, grotesplori,
palisi, kaj bambui, kaj geglui,
kunkuŝi, kaj interne intervjui,
bombardi sube, mini, lanci, bori.
Kaj broson brosi, glavon karnan ingi,
buteron kirli, sondi, piŝti, piki,
kamenbalai, inan ingon klingi,
surpingli, karnon planti, truon fliki,
la brulon per la akvotub' estingi,
tranajli, spili, ŝargi, farĉi, fiki.
Once a root achieves currency in Esperanto, it becomes available to all of the derivational
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
processes of Esperanto grammar; so that fiki "to fuck" is the source for fikilo, a dildo
Dildo
A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for bodily penetration during masturbation or sex with partners.- Description and uses :...
or a penis, literally a tool (-ilo) for fucking; and for many other regularly formed words.