edziĉo
Esperanto edit
Etymology edit
From edzo (“husband”, reconstrued as ‘spouse’) + -iĉo (“male”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
edziĉo (accusative singular edziĉon, plural edziĉoj, accusative plural edziĉojn)
- (neologism, nonstandard, proscribed) husband
- 2001 March 23, Edmund Grimley Evans, “Re: Senpagaj amorfavoroj [Re: Free sexual favors]”, in soc.culture.esperanto[1] (Usenet):
- "Kiu avarulo donis la 50 cendojn?" demandas la edziĉo. "Ĉiu", respondas la edzino.
- "Which miser gave the 50 cents?" asks the husband. "Everyone", replies the wife.
- 2015 October, “Gejedziĝo [Gay marriage]”, in Kontakto [Contact], number 4, Universala Esperanto-Asocio, →ISSN, page 14:
- Edziĉo, edzino, geedziĝo... Kaj nun nova vorto al la stoko: gejedziĝo.
- Husband, wife, [straight] marriage... And now a new word to the stock: gay marriage.
- 2016 December 9, “Diru NE al Perforto Kontraŭ Virinoj! [Say NO to Violence Against Women!]”, in Egalecen [Towards Equality][2]:
- Kiam oni pensas pri perforto en proksimaj rilatoj, oni plejparte imagas edzinon batatan de sia edziĉo.
- When one thinks about violence in close relationships, one mostly imagines a wife hit by her husband.
Usage notes edit
The neologistic suffix -iĉo is controversial, but even among its proponents the word edziĉo is commonly not recommended. The word edzo traditionally already means “husband” even without the addition of the masculine suffix -iĉo, making the suffix redundant.
Many users of the term believe that the meaning of edzo (and other gendered root words) should be made gender neutral, changing it to “spouse”. Other people that actively use it do not aim to change the traditional meaning of “edzo”, but think the redundancy of -iĉo is preferable to the asymmetry between the forms edzo (“husband”) and edzino (“wife”).
See also Gender reform in Esperanto and its section Masculine suffixes on Wikipedia, and the article on -iĉ- in Esperanto.