User:Kraŭs/Neologisms in Esperanto

Like every other language, Esperanto has its share of prescriptive linguists, descriptive linguists and curmudgeons. Like in English, a lot of discussion focuses on a tug-of-war between word-coiners and neologismophobes.

Esperantists cannot really agree on one definition of a neologism. Is it any new word, even one that was properly formed from roots and suffixes? Or is it just a word with a non-Fundamental root? You will often find that any usage without historical pretext is derided by some people... whereas others are OK with any usage that follows the Fundamental grammar, and still others are simply opposed to anything that is not in their dictionary (whether that dictionary is the PIV, Bonalingvo.org, Reta Vortaro or whatever), regardless of historical usage, understandability or the Fundamental grammar.

None of that really matters to the English Wiktionary. Here is Wiktionary's definition of a neologism: Neologisms. If a neologism is a "newly coined term" then historic, widely diffused Esperanto words like "olda" and "frida" are not neologisms, regardless of your personal opinion of when or how they should be used. They are certainly literary terms though, which are rarely found in everyday conversation. They are also non-fundamental and non-Zamenhofan terms. They are not chiefly literary- as Anne Lowenstein begrudgingly points out, they have long since entered ordinary conversation. Melnikov posits that they are often used by people with poor command of the language.

Words that you believe ought to only be used in poetry, but are in fact used in many other places, are not chiefly poetic, even if you would prefer they would be.

If a word is unusual or even non-Fundamental, it should definitely have a Citations page- that's what I try to do. And of course, no one has the right to invent their own words and add them to Wiktionary- that goes without saying.

Personally, if I encounter a word in literature (or in an Act of the Academy), I often add it to Wiktionary-- with citations. Any other way of determining whether a word exists in Esperanto is inappropriate for wiktionary (laŭ mi).