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Helmut Richter wrote:
> Besides their more special meanings, the words "stem" and "root" are both
> used to denote the core part of a word to which affixes are attached. Are
> the two words synonymous in this context?
>
> In the German language, there are many words that look as if they had an
> affix (mostly a suffix) but this affix appears in each cognate word, e.g.
> "Wagen" with the suffix "-en", but all not to distant cognates contain the
> n of the suffix, e.g. "Wagner". The "-(e)n" thus belongs to the word
> itself and is not an *additional* affix. Would one say that it is part of
> the root? Or that it is part of the word stem?
>
> Without being sure about the correct terminology, I would consider it part
> of the root but not part of the stem, but I want to check whether my
> terminology is correct in this point.
It depends on the way you see these three words: root, stem or base.
Root suggests the letters (sounds) that carry the meaning as in
Semitic languages. Stem suggests derivation and base has a more general
meaning. All of them overlap in meaning.
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