Esperanto

Esperanto (ĕspərän`tō), an artificial language introduced in 1887 and intended by its inventor, Dr. Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (1859–1917), a Polish oculist and linguist, to ease communication between speakers of different languages. In the 20th cent. it has been taught in schools and universities throughout the world but has not received wide acceptance as an international language. Its grammar and lexicon are relatively unfamiliar to users who do not know other Indo-European languages; its syntax, spelling, and pronunciation are influenced especially by Slavonic. See international language.

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Esperanto

Artificial language created in 1887 by Lazarus Ludwig Zamenhof (1859–1917), a Polish oculist, for use as an international second language. Zamenhof's Fundamento de Esperanto (1905) outlines its basic principles. All words, derived from roots commonly found in the European languages, are spelled as pronounced, and grammar is simple and regular. Nouns have no gender and end in -o, and there is only one definite article, la (e.g., la amiko, “the friend”). Adjectives are marked by the ending -a. Verbs are regular and have only one form for each tense or mood. The Universal Esperanto Association (founded 1908) has members in 83 countries. Estimates of the number of Esperanto-speakers range from 100,000 to several million.

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Esperanto

an international artificial language based on words common to the chief European languages, invented in 1887

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Esperanto 

the most widely used of the artificial languages; an auxiliary means of international communication.

Esperanto was created in 1887 by L. Zamenhof, a physician who lived in Warsaw; the language derives its name from his pseudonym, Dr. Esperanto (literally, “one who hopes”). Esperanto makes use of roots from the European languages; when combined with any of several dozen affixes, the roots become designations for a wide variety of concepts. International Esperanto congresses, under the auspices of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio (Universal Esperanto Association), have been held annually since 1905; the organization Mondpaca Esperantista Movado (Movement of Esperantists for World Peace) also exists.

Literary works, translations, collections of original scholarly works, and several dozen journals are published in Esperanto. The many translations into Esperanto include the Bible, Vergil’s Aeneid, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Goethe’s Faust, A. S. Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, and V. V. Mayakovsky’s At the Top of My Voice.

REFERENCES

Sergeev, I. V. Osnovy esperanto. Moscow, 1961.
Problemy interlingvistiki. Moscow, 1976.
Bokarev, E. A. Esperanto russkii slovar’. Moscow, 1974.
Manders, W. Interlingvistiko kaj esperantologio. Purmerend, 1950.
Zamenhof, L. L. Fundamenta kreslomatio de la lingvo Esperanto, 17th ed. Rickmansworth, 1954.
Esperanto anlologio: Poemoj 1887–1957. La Laguna, 1958.
Waringhier, G. Plena ilustrita vortaro de Esperanto. Paris, 1970.

V. P. GRIGOREV