Ludvic Lazarus (Ludwik Lejzer, Ludwik Łazarz) Zamenhof (December
15, 1859 – April 14, 1917)
was an eye doctor, philologist, and the virtual
inventor of Esperanto, the most widely spoken and successful constructed languages designed for international communication among speakers of all languages.
According to biographers A. Zakrzewski and E. Wiesenfeld, his native languages were Polish, from the neighborhood where he was raised, and his parents' languages Russian and Yiddish, but his father was a German teacher, and he also spoke that fluently. Later he learned French, Latin, Greek,
Hebrew and English, and he also had an
interest in Italian, Spanish and
Lithuanian.
Per Elwood, as of 1975, Esperanto was taught in 600 schools to 20,000 students per year; and there were about 100 journals and
7500 books written in Esperanto, including translations from 65 languages. In addition, it had by that time been used in more
than 700 international conferences. As of 2000, per Cambridge Encyclopedia, it had somewhere between 1 and 15 million speakers,
according to sources referenced.
Life
Zamenhof was born on December 15, 1859 in the town of
Białystok (in Poland, then under Russian rule) to parents of Lithuanian Jewish descent. The
town's population was made up of three major ethnic groups: Poles, Belarusians, and a large group of Yiddish-speaking Jews. Zamenhof
was saddened and frustrated by the many quarrels between these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and
prejudice lay in mutual misunderstanding, caused by the lack of one common language that would
play the role of a neutral communication tool between people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
As a student at secondary school in Warsaw, Zamenhof made attempts to create some kind of
international language with a grammar that was very rich, but also very complex. When he later studied English, he decided that
the international language must have a simpler grammar.
By 1878, his project Lingwe uniwersala was almost finished. However Zamenhof was too
young then to publish his work. Soon after graduation from school he began to study medicine,
first in Moscow, and later in Warsaw. In 1885, Zamenhof graduated
from a university and began his practice as an ophthalmologist. While healing people he continued to work on his project of the international
language.
In 1879, Zamenhof wrote the first grammar of the Yiddish language, which he
published in part years later in the Yiddish magazine "Lebn un visnshaft" (Life and Science, Vilna, 1909; see Esperanto translation as «Pri jida gramatiko kaj reformo en la jida» in «Hebreo el la geto: de
cionismo al hilelismo», Eldonejo Ludovikito, vol. 5, 1976). Complete original Russian
text of this manuscript with parallel Esperanto translation was only published in 1982 (translated by Adolf Holzhaus in «L.
Zamennhof, provo de gramatiko de novjuda lingvo», Helsinki, p. 9-36). In this work, not only does he provide a review of the
Yiddish grammar, but also proposes its transition to the Latin script and other orthographic innovations. In the same period,
Zamenhof wrote some other works in Yiddish, including perhaps the first survey of the Yiddish poetics (see p. 50 in the
above-cited book).
For two years he tried to raise funds to publish a booklet describing the language until he received the financial help from
his future wife's father. In 1887, the book titled as "Lingvo internacia. Antaŭparolo kaj plena
lernolibro" (International Language. Foreword And Complete Textbook) was published under the pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto" (Doctor Hopeful), from which the name of the language derives. For
Zamenhof this language wasn't merely a communication tool, but a means of spreading his ideas on the peaceful coexistence of
different peoples and cultures. Among the many works he translated into Esperanto is the Hebrew
Bible or Old Testament.
Zamenhof and his wife Klara raised three children: a son, Adam, and two daughters, Sofia and Lidia. All three perished in
the Holocaust.
Lidia Zamenhof in particular took a keen interest in Esperanto, and as an adult became
a teacher of the language, traveling through Europe and to America to teach classes in it. Through her friendship with
Martha Root, Lidia accepted Bahá’u’lláh and became a
member of the Bahá’í faith. As one of its social principles, the Bahá’í faith teaches that
an auxiliary world language should be selected by the representatives of all the world's nations.
In 1910, Zamenhof was nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize, by four British Members of Parliament (including James O'Grady, Philip Snowden) and Professor
Stanley Lane Poole.[1] The Prize was awarded to the
International Peace Bureau.
Zamenhof died in Warsaw on April 14, 1917, and is buried in
the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery in that city.
Homaranismo
-
Outside his linguistic work, Zamenhof published a religious philosophy he called Homaranismo (loosely translated as
humanitarianism), based on the principles and teachings of Hillel the Elder.
A stamp celebrating the 120th year of Esperanto, the portrait of Zamenhof was created using the text from the biography as
appeared in the Esperanto Wikipedia. Israel 2007
Name discrepancy
Zamenhof's parents gave him the Hebrew name Eliezer, which appeared on his birth certificate in its Yiddish form
Leyzer. In his adolescence he used both Leyzer and the Russian equivalent Lazar (the form Lazarus is often
used in English texts). In some Russian documents Lazar was followed by the patronymic
Markovich.
While at university, Zamenhof began using the gentile Russian name Lyudovik (often
transcribed Ludovic; Polish Ludwik; in English the form Ludwig is also used) in place of Lazar. When his
brother Leon became a doctor and started signing his name "Dr L. Zamenhof", Lyudovik reclaimed his birth name Lazar and from 1901
signed his name "Dr L. L. Zamenhof". The two L's do not seem to have specifically represented either name, and the order
Ludovic Lazarus is a modern convention.
Zamenhof may have chosen the name Lyudovik in honor of Francis Lodwick (or Lodowyck),
who in 1652 had published an early conlang
proposal.[2]
His family name was written Samenhof in German orthography; Zamenhof is an Esperantized spelling.
Namesakes
The minor planet (1462) Zamenhof is named in his
honor. It was discovered on February 6, 1938 by
Yrjö Väisälä.
Hundreds of city streets, parks, and bridges worldwide have been named after Zamenhof. In Lithuania, the best-known Zamenhof Street is in Kaunas, where he lived and
owned a house for some time. There are others in France, Poland,
Czech Republic, Spain (mostly in Catalonia), Israel, and Brazil. There are
Zamenhof Hills in Hungary and Brazil, and a Zamenhof Island in the Danube River. [1]
Eliezer Zamenhof street in
Tel Aviv with the street sign in both Hebrew and Esperanto.
In some Israeli cities, street signs identify Esperanto's creator and give his birth and death dates, but refer to him solely
by his Jewish name Eliezer (the origin of Lazarus).
A genus of lichen has been named Zamenhofia in honour
of Zamenhof. [2]
He is honored as a deity by the Japanese religion Oomoto.
Notes
References
- Elwood, Ann Toward a Universal Language, The Peoples Almanac. Garden City NY: Doubleday and Company, 1975. ISBN
0-385-04060-1.
- Le Petit Robert: 'Zamenhof'. Paris; Montréal: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 1990. ISBN 2-85036-074-0.
- Schmadel, Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (2nd ed.). Berlin; New York: Springer-Verlag, 1993. ISBN
3-540-66292-8.
See also
- The Life of Zamenhof (book)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about.
