Page "Esperanto etymology" Paragraph 31

There is some question over which inflection to use when assimilating Latin and Greek words.

Zamenhof generally preferred the oblique stem over the nominative singular form, as in reĝo ( king ), which follows the Latin oblique forms with reg – ( compare English regicide ), or floro ( flower ) as in floral, rather than nominative singular rex and flos.

However, European national standards differ in this regard, resulting in debate over the form of later " international " borrowings, such as whether the asteroid Pallas should be Palaso in Esperanto, parallel to French and English names Pallas, or Palado, as in Italian Pallade, Russian Паллада ( Palláda ), and the English adjective Palladian.

In some cases there are three possibilities, as can be seen in the English noun helix ( x = ), its plural helices ( c = ), and its adjective helical ( c = ).

Although the resulting potential for conflict is frequently criticized, it does present an opportunity to disambiguate what would otherwise be homonyms based on culturally specific and often fossilized metaphors.

For example, all three of the forms of Latin helix are found as Esperanto roots, one with the original meaning, and the other two representing old metaphors: helico ( a spiral ), heliko ( a snail ), helikso ( the incurved rim of the ear ).