Thursday, December 15, 2005

 

Spotlight: Felican datrevenon! Happy Birthday to Dr. Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, the planned international language. Zamenhof was born on this date in 1859 in the part of Poland which was part of the Russian Empire; his native tongues were Russian and Yiddish, and he was fluent in German and Polish and later learned French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English. Frustrated with the lack of understanding among people who didn't share a common language, he hoped that people would take Esperanto on as a universal second language.

Quote: "Language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about." – Benjamin Lee Whorf

Today in History:

• Bill of Rights: Amendments I-X of the US Constitution became law (1791)
• Gone With the Wind: Civil War-era epic film premiered in Atlanta (1939)
• Romania: popular uprising began, leading to the downfall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (1989)

Today's Birthdays:

• Nero: emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned" (37-68)
• Alexandre Gustave Eiffel: designer of the eponymous tower in Paris (1832-1923)
• J. Paul Getty: oil tycoon (1892-1976)

Word of the Day:  philology: the study of ancient languages and texts; Zamenhof was a philologist.   (© )