Post ZLwZnCtPDFX

Robert Reynolds Mar 10, 2018 (15:59)

“absolutely”

Someone asked me to translate “she is absolutely adorable” for her boyfriend to say of her. For “adorable” I’ve used mélima but “absolutely” has proven tricky: it’s not a simple intensive. Periphrasis is possible: for example, lá *ailoima “beyond any possible mistake”; but I’ve found that approach not fully satisfying as “unmistakably, irrefutably, undeniably” yields a subtly different sense. Aqua “completely, altogether, *utterly” seems suitable in sense and has the advantage of being positive instead of contranegative but I’m interested in other meanings: I cannot find any attested positive or negative word in any part of speech in any Eldarin language for “condition/unconditional, qualification/unqualified, reservation/unreserved”.

Tamas Ferencz Mar 10, 2018 (17:48)

ilu pella "beyond everything"
úlanwa(ve) "unlimited"
úyorima "impossible to define"

Robert Reynolds Mar 11, 2018 (01:29)

+Tamas Ferencz Those capture the idea well: useful in general situations, as hoped for. 🙂