It means what you think: Something that stands for (pro-) a verb. The only J entities capable of "standing for" (as opposed to just "being") in J are names. Hence, a proverb is a name whose referent is a verb / a name which has been assigned to a verb / a name with nameclass verb (3)*.
This definition is difficult to find in the DoJ, but it's there [1]: "The word =: behaves like the copulas “is” and “are” in English, and is read as such, as in “area is 3 times 4” for area=: 3*4 . The name area thus assigned is a pronoun and, as in English, it plays the role of a noun. Similar remarks apply to names assigned to verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions." -Dan [1] DoJ §II : http://www.jsoftware.com/help/dictionary/dict2.htm * We need a better word for user assignable names like "area" to distinguish them from system-defined names like "a." or "*" . Ideas anyone? Please excuse typos; composed on a handheld device. -----Original Message----- From: Ian Clark <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 17:19:58 To: General forum<[email protected]> Reply-To: General forum <[email protected]> Subject: [Jgeneral] Pronoun and proverb? Could someone please define the J term "proverb" for me? I've scanned: >> << Ndx Usr Pri JfC LJ Phr Dic Rel Voc !: wd Help but I'm still not sure. I can guess, but I want to know. Ian ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
