Esperanto lexicographers are individuals or groups, whether enthusiastic amateurs or trained linguists, who have produced single-language or bilingual
dictionaries of Esperanto.
More than 130
Esperantist
An Esperantist ( eo, esperantisto) is a person who speaks, reads or writes Esperanto. According to the Declaration of Boulogne, a document agreed upon at the first World Esperanto Congress in 1905, an Esperantist is someone who speaks Esperant ...
s, working singly or collectively, have published such dictionaries; several of these authors are listed in the "
Esperanto lexicographers" category.
In the specific case of Esperanto, most dictionary authors historically were and today still are non-specialists in the field of
lexicography
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoretica ...
. A notable exception is
Erich-Dieter Krause, a German professor of
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
, who wrote comprehensive dictionaries, both
German–Esperanto (2007) and Esperanto-German (1999).
Though most Esperanto dictionary compilers have been men, notable female Esperanto lexicographers include
Adriana J. Middelkoop, who wrote
Dutch–Esperanto and Esperanto–Dutch dictionaries (1971) and
Ilona Koutny
Ilona Koutny (born 1 March 1953 in Budapest) is a Hungarian linguist and Esperantist. She works as a professor in Poznań, Poland. In 2008, she was honoured as "Esperantist of the Year" by the magazine ''La Ondo de Esperanto''.
Life
Koutny stud ...
, chief editor of a
Hungarian–Esperanto dictionary, 1996).
Because compiling a dictionary demands great linguistic expertise and may be the labour of many years, most dictionary writers were only able to accomplish the feat in their elder years; however, the
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
Eugen Wüster
Eugen Wüster (10 October 1898 – 29 March 1977) was an industrialist and terminologist.
Career
Wüster became enthusiastic about Esperanto when he was 15, soon coming to the fore as an Esperanto translator
and as the author of various mon ...
wrote the core of his encyclopedic Esperanto–German dictionary, published in 1923, as an early-20s university student. The German
Eckhard Bick, having emigrated to Denmark, published his
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
dictionary at 32.
The professions of Esperanto lexicographers vary widely; one may find teachers (
Atanas D. Atanasov,
Paul Bennemann,
Émile Grosjean-Maupin,
Boris Kolker
Boris Grigorevich Kolker (russian: Борис Григорьевич Колкер; born July 15, 1939, in Tiraspol, Moldavian ASSR, Soviet Union) is a language teacher, translator and advocate of the international language Esperanto. He was unt ...
, etc.), theologians like
Jan Filip, literary professionals such as
Gaston Waringhien
Gaston Waringhien (July 20, 1901 – December 20, 1991) was a French linguist, lexicographer, and Esperantist. He wrote poems as well as essays and books on linguistics. He was chairman of the Akademio de Esperanto.
Books
* ''Plena Vortaro'' (193 ...
, translators (
Fernando de Diego
Fernando de Diego (1919–2005) was a Spanish journalist and linguist.
Translated works
*The land of Alvargonzález of Antonio Machado ( 1969 )
*Gypsy Ballads of Federico Garcia Lorca ( 1971 )
*Rhymes Gustavo Adolfo Becquer ( 1972 )
*The tree of ...
) or journalists (Joseph Rhodes, Razen Manandhar), but also many technicians and engineers (
Rüdiger Eichholz,
Ottó Haszpra, etc.) Both
André Albault and
L.L. Zamenhof were
ophthalmologist
Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...
s, while
Montagu C. Butler was a musician.
Sometimes, too, a collective has compiled a dictionary. An example is the editorial committee of the
Japanese Esperanto Institute, under the guidance of
Konisi Gaku and
Gotoo Hitosi. Founded in 1990, the committee eventually published its
Esperanto–Japanese dictionary in 2006.
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