Fibonacci

12 March 2007

Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician, famous for inventing the Fibonacci numbers.

Curiously, in Esperanto his name (nick-name?) has a meaning: "being good in an objectionable and ugly way". That's because Fibonachi (spelled Fibonacxi or Fibonaĉi depending on preferred convention) in Esperanto can be decomposed into:

Prefix fi- meaning objectionable, of bad nature, morally despicable.
Core word -bon-: good.
Postfix -aĉ: ugly, of unpleasant looks
Postfix -i: verbal marker: infinitive.

Fi- and -aĉ should not be confused with mal-, which negates the following element, i.e. says that the opposite of its meaning applies, and ne-, which denies the following element, i.e. says that the meaning of the following does not apply.

PS. This usenet message in this thread inspired me to write this page. See also this later message.