ESPERANTO.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 104, 25 January 1908, Page 12

ESPERANTO.

THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE." (By S. H. Whichollo, of tlio, Gregg Shorthand- . ' - :v-:3m ■ School)v&S-HS ' -.It is tlio:intention in: this column-: to give:: tho public; an 'idea of - what Esperahto—tho:; > ' .. proposed i international language—really ?is.-: . ; Unmistakeably . the language >. is gaining- a . . ' great many students.', in all parts./of -.the*■ v■ world; lt:is well-known that nil languages . • havg r . tli fli cu 1 ties;-i bu bVi ti" ahto'L th - best ■' ;-i' m eVery-In nguagc hiiE'boon extracted and:the .- - ■worst discarded,:' whiclr has < resulted in the.-:,, ,-= manufacture of: an-* auxiliary InnguagO that • : may ono day bo tho means'of universal speech , !among and between .all peoples. . While, the great nations: are playing jbeggarc. V my neighbour; and: building-. Dreadnoughts, ( a inosscngcr is making its -way.:over.. • the whole-earth, silently but surely,- backed ..- not by millionaires, but iby. tho forco of its own melits.- I-mean Esperanto.Alt vis said that: the pen. .-is, more j powerful, tlian. the sword. Cannot tho G4mo be said of language? How - many a bloody and devastating war' . ' would prevented"had: timo; been : , - given for , words. of explanation? . And>. the > : same applies to individuals. ' ■ ' i : Dr. Zamenhof, tho founder of this beauti-'A ' :: ful language, was ,born in a small town in >! Russia containing Hbout threo- thousand: inhabitants broken up into four or five separate : • .communities, eachspeaking- l; a • different j t;' language,, and maintaining a sullen suspicion and: dishko towards each, other. 1 ; This, so shocked the boy Zamenhof' that, ho deter- . • 1..-, minodjto devote his lite to the construction' ' of a language, simple,' flexible, and expM» 1 ' sive. > That, he has done this-Is fully ad< . mitted by all those.who know the language. ' Di. Zamonhof-flnished:the construction:o£' • tho language when-ho had reached the age of 26. So littlo was known of it three yearf : ago m Engliiild that many people, when'thoj - • occasionally saw the- word,. 1 thought ltt War some quack medicine, i let now: in thre* short ,years it has spread: through tlio world, 1 r: In tho United States there -aro already -65 ■ t dillerent Esperanto Clubs with large and, ni. v creasing ''membership.: - Esperanto: is .being . ; - taught m all-the oommorciai schools in England and in some ; of: tho County/: Council . : y soliools in London and the: provinces. Tha : - Japanese have taken it. up in® national and r - 1 quite ohaiactcristlo mailner, and.tho Chines® ' aro recognising it ,as a moans of enabling;theii '■■■•'.: ' immense populationj . speaking,' so many' dif- V-'M , feient languages, to* understand ono .• Last August-; in England; at-the:University. - town of Cambridge, ail 'International Esper- , anto Congress was- held." more -tliaa : 1400: people, reprcSfiiitipg more "than-thirty different nitioridlities, . : met; and* freelyeon- : J versed together as :if they-were o£- one - family. Oil the Sundayi tlio whole of'the somce lu .the Anglican cathedral was-per-formed m the Esperanto language, also m .some of the Nonconformist churches. In the Roman Catholic Church the sermon- waspreached in tho Esperanto language. • . The following is:a translation'/into Esper-, ..- anto of part of the first chapter of Genesis and tho Lord's Prayer from the Hebrew' by Dr. L. Zamenhof:— ' ;.: ; v'...'V', • i - -

THE ESPERANTO Je la komenco Dio ireis la' teron kaj la .chielon. : Kaj la tero estis :■ senfornia kaj dezerta; kaj -mallumo estis ■- super la,- pro-\ ■' fundajho; kaj la ammo ■; de Dio sin portia super la akvo. Kaj Dio diris estu lumo; kaj , farighis lumo.' Kaj Dio vidis la lumon, ke ghi,estas bona, ka] nomis Dio la lumoii tago, kaj ;la ; nial!union 'Li nomis nokto. 'Kaj estia ! - yespero, kaj'd.StisV.matono—unu tago. Kaf Dio diris: . Estu firmajho i inter la akvo, kaj ghi apartigu akvon de akvo. Kaj Dio k'reia la firmajhon,- kaj r apartigis 'la akvon kiu estas silb: la firmaiho, de ;la'akvo kiu. estaa' super la' firmajho; kaj farighis tiel.A Kaj Dio nomis li'firmajhon chielo. Kaj estis ,vospero, Kaj estis mateno—la dua tago. - Kaj Dio diris kolektu sin la' akvo 1 sub la chielo; uiiu 'lokon, .Kaj. montru ' sin sekajho: . kaj farighiTtiel; Kaj Dio nomis la seknjhoii i tero, kaj la-kolelttoju de la akvo Li riomia maroj.- ■ i . THE TRANSLATION. ; In-the beginning God created the earth and the heaven; And the earth was without form and void; and darkness Was upoil the (face of) the deep, And the spirit of God moved upon (the faco cf) the waters. , And God said, .Let there bo light, and there was light. And God 1 saw the light, that it was good, and God named ;tho-. light day, and _ the darkness'. He called night. And the evening, and the morning wero.one day. And God said: Let there, be a:lirmaniient'in ; tho midst of the waters,' and let it' divide tho water from water. And God' madothe Srmamer.t,, and divided the waters which were under the. firmament from the. waters wnich were above tho firmament, and it was so. And God called the firmament ; : Heaven. And the evoning and tho morning wore tho second day. And God ..said, Lot' bo- collected the water from under the Heaven in ono place, and let appear the 'dry land; and it was . ( so; And God called tho dry laud earth, and tile gathering together of tho waters Ha Called tho seas. "PATRO MA." '. . I'atro nia, Kiu estiis en la chielo', sankta estu Via nomo, venu reghcco Via, estu volo Via Kiel en la chielo,. tiel: ankau sur la tero, Panon uia'rt - : ohiu tagan donu al in hodiaU; kaj ■ pardonu' al ni shuldojn niajn, Kiel m ankau pardonas al niaj shuldantoj; No koriduku nin on ; tentqn; sed liberigu lira do ila malvera, char Via estas la regado, la forto, Kaj la gloro eterne. "OUR FATHER." - , Our Father, which art in Heaven,, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be dono as in heaven so also 911 earth, give us this day our daily bread,: and forgive ua our trespasses, as we".forgive that trespass against us, lead us • riot '"into temptation; but deliver 11s from, evil, for. Thinb is th 6 kingdom, tho power and the glory, for over. By a careful' perusal of tho above translations I think it will bo admitted ■ that Esperanto more than holds its own with the English language in its power of expressing tho meaning of tho original. Let- us take for instance our Lord's Prayer. In the second 'versa' "Thy Kingdom come" the ''Esperanto word chosen is "rcgheco," which means "Kingship"' or "Bale. Again in the fourth sentence "Deliver us from evil," tho Esperanto word used is "Malvera" which. means false, hypocritical. Christ said just before his delivery of tho prayer "When thou prayest thou slialt not be as the hypocrites," etc. Again in tho phrase "For thine is the Kingdom," the wore! used is "regado"_wliick means "continuing" or "everlastiug reign." In short, tho deeper ono goes into Esperanto, tho moro ono is convinced that it ia a living, practical Greek, and yet it can be acquired in much less time than jt would take to thoroughly master the Greek rcros. Note.—Dr. Zamenhof says in his Fundamento do Esporanto:—lf it is found impracticable' to print tho diacritical signs, tho letter "h" may be substituted for tho circumllox accent —eh, gh,. hh, jli, sh. This has. been adopted in tho aliovo quotations. This is tho course. I am pursuing. in this column as it is impossible to get the accent on tho linotypes.

Tho "Taihapo Times" states that, commencing ■ from January 5 passengora will be able to leave Taihapo by tho 8.30 a.m. train to tho North, and reach Taumarunui tho saino evening. This is< slightly different to tho timo-tablo foreshadowed by Sir Joseph Ward recontly, but further arrangements havo boon arrived at by tho Railway Department with tho Public Works l)cpartmont, which havo obviated tho necessity for tho northern train from Taihapo leaving at an earlier hour than.B.3o: Tho cliango mil bo much appreciated by tho travailing public, who aro now proceeding over the Alain Trunk line routo in rapidly increasing numbers. It dispenses with tho dreary stay at Waiouru, and enables tho through journey frmn Taihapo to Taumarunui to bo complotoj in ono day, as stated above. The trip from Taumarunui to Auckland is completed iJio next day. So thero aro three stages on tho ro'uto from Wellington to Auckland —Wellington to Taihapo (first day), Taihapo to Tamn.irnmri (second day), and Taumaninui to Auckland (third day). t