science

Interlingue literature

Interlingue literature is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Interlingue literature rather than just read about it. In short: Interlingue literature broadly encompasses the body of fiction and nonfiction work created or translated into Interlingue, a constructed language created by Edgar de Wahl. Although largely composed of original short stories and translations published in the central magazine of the language, Cosmoglotta, full length novels and poetry anthologies also exist, in particular those by authors such as Vicente Costalago, Ja…

Key takeaways

Interlingue literature belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Interlingue literature to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Interlingue literature from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Interlingue literature broadly encompasses the body of fiction and nonfiction work created or translated into Interlingue, a constructed language created by Edgar de Wahl. Although largely composed of original short stories and translations published in the central magazine of the language, Cosmoglotta, full length novels and poetry anthologies also exist, in particular those by authors such as Vicente Costalago, Jan Amos Kajš, and Jaroslav Podobský.

History

Background

Interlingue, also known as Occidental, is an international auxiliary language created in 1922 by Estonian teacher Edgar de Wahl. It has a largely Western European vocabulary, based largely on the Romance languages, with heavy influence from English. Created in 1922, it was first published in the magazine Kosmoglott (later Cosmoglotta), where it built a following. Due to a lack of published grammars and standardisation, the earliest works in the language used non-standard orthography and grammatical structures.

Publications

The first known publication in Interlingue is the book Transcendent algebra, mathematical ideography, experiment of a philosophical language (Interlingue: Transcendent algebra, ideografie matematical, experiment de un lingue filosofic) by Estonian linguist Jakob Linzbach, a proposal for a pasigraphy. This was translated into Interlingue by de Wahl at Linzbach's request. This was published before de Wahl formalised the language in Kosmoglott, while the language was still in its development, as a proto-language named "Auli". The first work of Interlingue literature as art was by Kaarle Julius Saarinen: a translation of the poem "Hymn" ("Hymne") by Finnish journalist and writer Kaarlo Hammar, appeared in the 1925 edition of Kosmoglott. Several other translations of foreign literature were also published by A. Toman around this time, such as the Wanderer's Nightsong poems by Goethe in the 1926 supplement to Kosmoglott, and a translation of "Nationalism in the West" by Rabindranath Tagore. In Supplement al Cosmoglotta 7 (1927), a translation of work by Persian poet Saadi Shirazi was presented, alongside work by Hermann Keyserling in the following edition in 1928. A series of translations were published in the 1930s, including Konstantin Balmont's Where is my home?, Manuel Menendez by Edmondo De Amicis, and A Descent into the Maelström by Edgar Allan Poe. Additionally, several original works were published, such as a poetry anthology, Li Astres del Verne (The Planets of Spring), by Podobský, Krasina, raconta del subterrania del Moravian carst by Kajš, and several works by A. E. Cortinas and P. Dimitriev. A short story collection, Historiettes in Occidental, was published in 1930 by Ric Berger.

In 1951, with the creation of Interlingua, many occidentalists, including Berger, one of the most important figures of the Interlingue movement, began to support this new IALA language. This led to a large destabilisation of the movement, and while Cosmoglotta continued to be published, it did so with diminishing frequency, ceasing publication in 1985. According to Esperantist author Don Harlow, the editor of Cosmoglotta in this period, Adrian Pilgrim stated that Interlingue could be described as a "dead language". However, publications of new literature in Interlingue continued throughout the 1950s and the early 1960s, with translations including "A Mother Speaks" by Czech Jiří Marek in 1954, Multatuli's "The alocution to the bosses of Lebak", and "Wedding Shirt" by Karel Jaromír Erben, translated by Josef Křesina. Other translated books included Arvid Brenner's Un Adío (A Farewell) and Bo Bergman's A Desertor by Eric Ahlström in 1958. In 1964, Francis R. Pope published Poemas (Poems), an anthology consisting of poems translated from German, French, and English. The revival of Interlingue began in 1999 with the creation of a Yahoo! group for the language, after a decade of decay in the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 2000s, Interlingue Wikipedia was created, which had over 5000 articles in 2020. Many original Interlingue texts as well as translations have been published since 2000, with the first being Stendhal's The Charterhouse of Parma (Li Cartusie de Parma), translated by Robert Winter in 2011. In 2012, Thomas Schmidt published Li Munde de Sandra in an online magazine, Posta Mundi, which contains material published in constructed languages. This was followed with a translation of The Little Prince in 2014 and another one of Li Romance de Photogen e Nycteris in 2019. Between 2021 and 2024 Vicente Costalago published several original and translated texts in Interlingue. Among the first are Li sercha in li castelle Dewahl e altri racontas, Li tresor de Fluvglant, Subuqti e Verses escapat de mi mente. Among the latter we can find Antologie hispan, Fabules, racontas e mites, and Antologie de poesie europan. Another important writer is Dorlota Burdon, who has published several original stories in the magazine Posta Mundi. She has also translated The Lunatic, by Khalil Gibran.

Notable authors

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Interlingue literature

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Interlingue literature claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Interlingue literature before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Interlingue literature ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Interlingue literature

In research: Interlingue literature appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Interlingue literature in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Interlingue literature is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Constructed languages, Interlingue, Literature, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Interlingue literature outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Interlingue literature in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Interlingue literature means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Interlingue literature out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Interlingue literature in simple terms?

Why does Interlingue literature matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Interlingue literature?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Interlingue literature.