Ili kreis novan lingvon.
Do you know what language the above sentence is written in? After reading this post, you will!
On Earth, there are over 5,000 distinct dialects of languages. With so many different languages spread across so many different places, the issue of communication between groups of people from diverse backgrounds became problematic. The need for a new international language became more and more apparent.
In the late 19th century, an ophthalmologist living in a diverse part of the Russian Empire found that many of its inhabitants could not communicate, as they spoke different languages. This created tension, as the cultures had a tendency to be mistrustful of one another. Wishing to create a sense of harmony, L. L. Zamenhof came up with the idea of creating a new language, free of political and social affiliations.
L. L. Zamenhof spent a decade working on the language, constructing the grammar and translating works from other languages into Esperanto. In 1887, he published the first official grammar guide of Esperanto, Unua Libro (The First Book).
Initially, the first speakers of the language kept in contact with each other through correspondence and journalism composed in Esperanto. Eventually, small groups began to pick up the language, using it for business and travel purposes.
Initially, the first speakers of the language kept in contact with each other through correspondence and journalism composed in Esperanto. Eventually, small groups began to pick up the language, using it for business and travel purposes.
The majority of the language uses root words from the Romance Languages. As many who have come into contact with Spanish will know, the Esperanto word for book, libro, is the same as in Spanish. Other words are a mixture of root words from several languages. The Esperanto word for thunder, tondri, is a mixture of the French, German, and English terms for thunder (tonner, donner, and thunder, respectively).
Currently, there are estimated to be up to 2 million speakers of Esperanto worldwide, with many of them concentrated in Europe and Asia. Do you know any speakers of Esperanto? Would you like to learn how to speak it? Join the discussion below!
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