Esperanto Language Blog

Thanksgiving is drawing nearer, for all of us Usono residents. Perhaps you’ll be planning to eat many platefuls of food. Or, perhaps you’ll be the one preparing it all, or helping to prepare it! For all of you readers with a culinary bent, this entry has been made to provide you with an Esperanto vocabulary to help you with some of your kitchen needs.

In the meantime, think of how useful an Esperanto cookbook could be! Aside from finding the proper units (since the States still refuse to adopt the Metric System), clear Esperanto instructions could make for a wonderful text that compiles recipes for international cuisine. It might be a good barrier breaker!

To cook – kuiri
To roast – rosti
To boil – boligi
To bake – baki
To simmer – boleti (Notice the infix -et-!)
Oven – forno
Knife – trancxilo
Fork – forko
Spoon – kulero

An interesting synonym for the English verb “to tempt” is the word “tantalize.” It can mean “to tease,” but it also connotes some temptation – “tantalizing” refers to something that arouses want, mostly due to that something’s unattainable nature. The word itself comes from the name of the Greek trickster-hero Tantalus, whose skills in deception led the gods to punish him. The legends place him in Tantarus, a region of the underworld reserved for evil-doers; in his particular portion, Tantalus is placed in water that recedes from him when he attempts to drink it, and underneath a fruit tree whose branches dangle ever higher when he tries to procure some of its fruit.

My point is that “tantalize” is one of the cooler English verbs. You can use it as a way to remember the Esperanto word for “tempt.” In Esperanto, we use tenti as “to tempt,” or “to entice.” Phonetically, it’s similar to the name of Tantalus. So, if the lack of an immediate cognate trips you up, think of synonyms for “to tempt.” You’ll remember in no time!

La kuko cxokolada tentas min. – The chocolate cake tempts me.

The end of October approaches, and so too does Halloween! As your talk turns to topics of ghouls and ghosts, you might want to have some Esperanto words up your sleeve to dazzle your friends. Here’s a list of some of the more common Halloween frights you could encounter at the close of the month…Hopefully as nothing worse than a costume! As always, additions and suggestions are more than welcome.

Vampire – vampiro
Ghost – fantomo (also, “fantomi” means “to haunt”)
Werewolf – homlupo (think of Old English – “were” means “man”)
Curse – malbeno (noun of “malbeni“)
Zombie – zombio
Grave/Tomb – tombo
Skeleton – ostaro (“-aro” de “ostoj“)
Witch - sorcxistino (Wizard = “sorcxisto“)