THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1907. THE PROGRESS OF ESPERANTO.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8550, 8 October 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1907. THE PROGRESS OF ESPERANTO.

Probably no movement of the present time has shown more progress than Esperanto. In an English publication of recent date, there is an interesting account of the origin and progress of Esperanto, which has frequently, but incorrectly, been termed a "universal language." The result of a life-study on the part of Dr Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, an oculist of Warsaw, Esperanto was first explained in a book which the author publishecLon July 21st, 1887. It is now a means of intercourse between some, thin * like half a million of people. "Esperanto" is a noun derived from the present participle, active, of the verb "esperi," to hope, and means "the person .who hopes." When Dr Zamenhof first laid his scheme before the public he wrote under the penname of "Dr. Esperanto." It is from this circumstance that the new language has derived its name. Dr. Sydney Whitaker, thus explains the origin of Dr. Zamenhof's life-work: "Dr. Zamenhof was born on December 3rd, 1859, in the little town of Bielostok, on the frontier of Russia i and Germany. The inhabitants were of four different nationalities—Russians, Poles, Jews and Germanseach group speaking its own language, and on bad terms with the

other gmups. When young Zamenhof reached his teens he grieved over this, and rightly concluded that the main cause was the misunderstanding due to diversity of language, and determined some day to invent a language which they could all speak. At school at Bielostok, and afterwards at Warsaw, he learned Greek, Latin, French, German and English, which, with the Yiddish, Russian and Polish which he already knew, equipped him well for his task. He first tried to adapt Latin, and afterwards Yiddish, for international purposes, but found them unsuitable." Esperanto, the outcome of twelve years' study, is not a "universal language." It is no more intended to be a rival to any other language than

a wife is intended to be the rival of her husband* It is an auxiliary language, built up in the first place from those words which are already known to the greatest number of persons of average education. Thus "from an ordinary page of Esperanto text an Englishman recognises 70 per cent, of the words, an Italian 60 per cent., a Spaniard 42 per cent, a Frenchman SO per cent., and a German 40 per cent." Invented as a means of enabling a comparatively small community divided in four sections by the language barrier, devoid of grammatical difficulties, and easy of acquirement, it has proved of immense service to men of science, business men, and travellers, and its adherents look to it to play no unimportant part in bringing about the federation of the world. "The Language," says Mr J. M. Warden, "was introduced into Britain only a little more than four years ago, and has already made extraordinary progress. In most of the large towns centres have been formed for its study, and the British Esperanto Association, which is a union of 120 of these groups, is the central organisation for the British Empire. That Association and the corresponding French body conduct examinations and grant diplomas in Esperanto. . . . Two International Esperanto congresses have already been held, at Boulogne (in 1905) and Geneva (in 1906) respectively. Each was attended by about 1.500 delegates from all parts jof the world. On the last occasion twenty-three different nationalities were represented." At Geneva there were held special and separate meetings of scientists, doctors, lawyers, military men, members of peace societies, Protestants, Catholics, Freemasons, Socialists, commercial men, the Press, stenographers, chessplayers, and so on. Thus, while the Boulogne congress "proved to the world that Esperanto is really a language by which all people can easily understand one another," the Geneva gathering "showed that that language is practically usable in all departments of human thought and activity."