"Nia avino daŭre uzas tiun praan kandelingon."
Translation:Our grandmother still uses that ancient candlestick.
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If the "ing" suffix means holder, then shouldn't this mean candelabra instead of candlestick? (I want to make sure before I report it)
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In this context: no. Or, I should say, in this lack of context: no.
First off, we were given in the Tips and Notes for Affixes-3 that kandelingo is candlestick. So due to the lack of context, even if kandelingo also refers to candelabras, we should stick to the most general term, candlestick.
Secondly, there is a separate word for candelabra—kandelabro (kandelabr·o).
But, could we use kandelingo to refer to a candelabra?
Wikipedia says that:
Kandelabro estas kandelingo kun diversaj branĉoj, dediĉita al elteno de kandeloj.
A candelabra is a candlestick with various branches, dedicated to holding(?) of candles.
--- teno is the act of holding,
Reta Vortaro says:
Luksa plurbranĉa kandelingo
Luxury several-branch candlestick
Aha! A kandelabro is a type of kandelingo!
We can't tell from just the sentence just how many candles Granny is using to light her way. But, what if there was more context? If a previous sentence had, for example, mentioned that there were three candles, then the kandelingo would be a candelabra.
I think I just always thought a candlestick was a long candle (like a stick). I didn't realize that candlestick was the holder not the candle.
I always thought candlesticks were just the tall skinny candle holders, but it turns out that the name means a place to stick a candle, and sometimes have a spike as well as a socket. So even the short ones are candlesticks.
