L. L. Zamenhof

L. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917) was the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language. Zamenhof published Esperanto in 1887, although his initial ideas date back as far as 1873. He grew up fascinated by the idea of a world without war and believed that this could happen with the help of a new international auxiliary language (IAL). The language was intended as a tool to gather people together through neutral, fair, equitable communication. He successfully formed a community which has survived to this day, despite the World Wars of the 20th century and various attempts to reform the language or create more modern IALs (Esperanto itself had displaced another similarly-motivated language, Volapük). Additionally, Esperanto has developed like other languages: through the interaction and creativity of its users. In light of his achievements, and his support of intercultural dialogue, UNESCO selected Zamenhof as one of its eminent personalities of 2017, on the 100th anniversary of his death. According to Esperanto communities, as of 2019 there are approximately 2 million people speaking Esperanto, including approximately 1,000 native speakers, although evidence to that has been heavily disputed, and the last major effort to improve the estimate occurred in 2004.

Name

Zamenhof came from a multilingual area. His name is transliterated as follows:

English: Louis Lazarus Zamenhof – English pronunciation: Esperanto: Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhof – pronounced [ludoˈviko laˈzaro zamenˈhof] French: Louis Lazare Zamenhof – pronounced [lwi la.zaʁ za.mɛn.of] German: Ludwig (Levi) Lazarus Samenhof – pronounced [ˈluːtvɪç ˈlaːtsaʁʊs ˈzaːmənhoːf] Hebrew: אליעזר (לודוויג) זמנהוף, romanized: Eli'ezer Ludvig Zamenhof – pronounced [eliˈ(ʕ)ezeʁ ˈludvig ˈzamenhof] Lithuanian: Liudvikas Lazaris (Leizeris) Zamenhofas Polish: Ludwik Łazarz Zamenhof – pronounced [ˈludvʲik ˈwazaʐ zaˈmɛnxɔf] Russian: Людвик Лазарь (Лейзер) Маркович Заменгоф, romanized: Lyudvik Lazar' (Leyzer) Markovich Zamengof Belarusian: Людвіг Лазар Маркавіч Заменгоф (Заменгоў), romanized: Liudvih Lazar Markavič Zamienhof (Zamienhoŭ) Yiddish: לײזער לוי זאַמענהאָף, romanized: Leyzer Leyvi Zamenhof Born into an Ashkenazi family, at his birth Zamenhof was given the common Hebrew name Eliezer by his parents, which is translated into English as Lazarus. However, as the area was a part of the Russian Empire at the time, his name was recorded on his birth certificate as Лейзер Заменгов, Leyzer Zamengov, using the Yiddish form of the forename and a russified version of his surname; many later Russian language documents also include the patronymic Маркович, Markovich « son of Mark » (in reference to his father, Markus), as is the custom in the language. His family name is of German origin and was originally written Samenhof; this was later transcribed into Yiddish as זאַמענהאָף, then re-romanized back as Zamenhof. The change of the initial letter from «S» to «Z» is not unusual, as in German an initial «s» is pronounced [z]. In his adolescence, he used both the Yiddish Leyzer and the Russian Lazar when writing his first name. While at university, Zamenhof began using the Russian name Lyudovik (also transcribed Ludovic or translated as Ludwig) in place of Lazar, possibly in honour of Francis Lodwick, who in 1652 had published an early conlang proposal. When his brother Leon became a doctor and started signing his name "Dr L. Zamenhof", Zamenhof reclaimed his birth name Lazar and from 1901 signed his name "Dr L. L. Zamenhof" to avoid confusion with his brother. The two Ls do not seem to have specifically represented either name and the order Ludwik Lejzer is a modern convention.

Early years

Zamenhof was born on 15 December 1859, the son of Mark and Rozalia Zamenhof (née Sofer), in the multi-ethnic city of Belostok in the Russian Empire (now Białystok in Poland). He went to a cheder until age 13, and later to secondary school in Warsaw. He developed an interest in poetry and drama, and wrote several pieces, including a five act play about the Tower of Babel. He appears to have been natively bilingual in Yiddish and Russian, however according to Zamenhof himself he used to speak mainly in Polish. His father was a teacher of French and German. From him, Zamenhof learned both languages, as well as Hebrew. He also spoke Belarusian, which was popular in Białystok. Polish became the native language of his children in Warsaw. In school, he studied the classical languages Latin, Greek, and Aramaic. He later learned some English, though in his own words not very well. He had an interest in Italian and Lithuanian and learned Volapük when it came out in 1880. By that time, his international language project was already well-developed. In addition to the Jewish Yiddish-speaking minority, the population of Białystok included Polish Catholics and the Russian Orthodox (the latter of whom were mainly government officials), with smaller groups of Belarusians, Germans and other ethnicities. Zamenhof was saddened and frustrated by the many quarrels among these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and prejudice lay in the mutual misunderstanding caused by the lack of a common language. If such a language existed, Zamenhof postulated, it could 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 attempted to create an international language with a grammar that was rich, but complex. When he later studied English, he decided that the international language must have simpler grammar. Apart from his parents' native languages Russian and Yiddish and his adopted language Polish, his projects were also aided by his mastery of German, a good passive understanding of Latin, Hebrew and French, and a basic knowledge of Greek, English and Italian. His project, Lingwe uniwersala, was finished by 1878. He went to Moscow the next year to study medicine. While there, he experienced the rise of antisemitism in the Russian Empire at the time, and became involved with Zionism. He returned to Warsaw to finish his studies and began an ophthalmology residency in 1885. He began his practice as a doctor in Veisiejai. After 1886, he worked as an ophthalmologist in Płock and Vienna. While healing people there, he continued to work on his project of an international language.

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