Léon Bollack (1859 – 1925) was a French trader who invented Bolak, a

constructed language A constructed language (shortened to conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed natural language, naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devise ...

that also went by the name "the Blue Language", in 1899."H. S. Chapman: Léon Bollack and His Forgotten Project"
''Fiatlingua.org''. Accessed 11 November 2018.

Personal

His parents were Hermann Bollack and Rachel Léontine Léon (daughter of Moise Léon, founder of the synagogue Buffault in Paris, and Henriette Vissier). The father was from Kreuznach in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

, Germany, where the family name had been present "for centuries". The mother was from Paris. Together with his wife Amelie Picard (daughter of Alphonse Mayer Picard and Sara Levy), he had three children: Léontine Rachel Alice (~1891-1981), Lucien Armand Bollack (1892 – 1968), who became an engineer, and a second daughter, Fanny Louise Bollack (1898 – 1958). He died on September 23, 1925. His daughter, Léontine, changed her name to Alice and married Roger-Angel Olchanski. Together they had two sons, Jean and Daniel, although it was reported that the second son was born as a result of an affair with Alex Virot, a sports journalist.. His son, Lucien Armand Bollack went and founded the Bollack Netter & Co car company. Léon Bollack, his wife Amélie and his daughter Fanny are buried in the Montmartre cemetery in Paris (3rd division).

New international languages

After a few years promoting Bolak, he abandoned the struggle in 1907 in favour of the movement backing

Ido Ido () is a constructed language derived from a reformed version of Esperanto, and designed similarly with the goal of being a universal second language for people of diverse languages. To function as an effective ''international auxiliary ...

(a reformed version of the

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

language). It is possible that the blue color of the Ido flag was his proposal. He uttered the phrase: "It seems to me that both the

and

Volapük Volapük (; , 'Language of the World', or lit. 'World Speak') is a constructed language created in 1879 and 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany, who believed that God told him to create an international lang ...

poets are worthy only to be the objects of ridicule." Bollack inspired

H.G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

, who mentioned him in his book '' A Modern Utopia''.

Works

Books

Bolak

*''La Langue Bleue Bolak: langue internationale pratique'', Paris: 1899 (480+ pages). *''Abridged grammar of the Blue Language'' ranslated by Tischer Paris: Pres. Dupont, 1900 (64 pages). *''Premier vocabulaire de la langue bleue Bolak'', Paris: 1902 (90+ pages).

Other

*"Comment Et Pour Quoi La France Doit Renoncer A L'Alsace-Lorraine" (1905). *"La monnaie internationale" (''La Revue'', June 15, 1911). *"Comment tuer la guerre - La loi mondiale de boycottage douanier". Paris, 1912. eport presented to the legal committee of the 19th Universal Peace Congress (Geneva, September 1912) on economic sanctions.] *"L'emploi rationnel de la plume des oiseaux sauvages. Réglementation, oui; prohibition, non." Comite d’Ornithologie Economique, 1914. *"Vers La Fédération Mondiale", in Revue "Les Documents Du Progres" - ''Revue Internationale'' (arguing for a World Federation).

Articles

*"La Langue Française en l'an 2003", by Leon Bollack, in '' La Revue'', 15 July 1903.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bollack, Leon Constructed language creators 1859 births 1925 deaths French Jews