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''Dr. Esperanto's International Language'' (russian: Международный язык), commonly referred to as ' (''First Book''), is an 1887 book by Polish ophthalmologist
L. L. Zamenhof L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was an ophthalmologist who lived for most of his life in Warsaw. He is best known as the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language. Zamenhof first dev ...
, in which he first introduced and described the
constructed language A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. ...
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
. First published in Russian on , the publication of ''Unua Libro'' marks the formal beginning of the
Esperanto movement The Esperanto movement, less commonly referred to as Esperantism ( eo, Esperantismo), is a movement to disseminate the use of the planned international language Esperanto.See the definition in theDeklaracio pri la Esenco de la Esperantismo ("Bu ...
. Writing under the pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto", Zamenhof originally referred to the language as the ''international language''; the use of ''Esperanto'' did not arise until 1889 when people began to use his pseudonym as the name of the language itself. Zamenhof reproduced a significant portion of the content of ''Unua Libro'' in the 1905 '' Fundamento de Esperanto'', which he established as the sole obligatory authority over Esperanto in the Declaration of Boulogne, ratified by the first
World Esperanto Congress The World Esperanto Congress ( eo, Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) is an annual Esperanto convention. It has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run for 113 years. The congresses have be ...
later that year.


History

After many years of developing the language, Zamenhof completed ''Unua Libro'' by the spring of 1885 and spent the next two years looking for a publisher. In 1887, shortly after he married his wife Klara, his new father-in-law Aleksandr Silbernik advised him to use money from Klara's dowry to find a publisher. Following his advice, Zamenhof found a publisher in
Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, Chaim Kelter. On , Kelter published the book in Russian as ''International Language'' (russian: Международный язык). Before the end of the year, Kelter published the
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
,
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, and
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
editions of the book, as well. In 1888, Zamenhof had Julian Steinhaus translate the book into English, and the translation was published under the title ''Dr. Esperanto's International Tongue''. However, when Richard Geoghegan pointed out that Steinhaus's translation was very poor, Zamenhof destroyed his remaining copies and requested that Geoghegan produce a fresh translation. Geoghegan's translation of the book, titled ''Dr. Esperanto's International Language'', was published on and became the standard English translation. Henry Phillips, Jr., a secretary of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
and early supporter of Esperanto, also produced a translation in 1889, titled ''An Attempt towards an International Language'', but Geoghegan's translation remains the preferred standard. ''Unua Libro'' was also translated into
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
,
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, and
Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
in 1889 and then into
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,
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, Italian, Spanish, and Czech in 1890. The name ''Unua Libro'' was applied retroactively to the book in relation to the title of Zamenhof's 1888 book ''
Dua Libro ''Dua Libro de l' Lingvo Internacia'' (''Second Book of the International Language''), usually referred to simply as ''Dua Libro'', is an 1888 book by L. L. Zamenhof. It is the second book in which Zamenhof wrote about the constructed language E ...
'' (''Second Book''). In 1905, Zamenhof reproduced much of the content of ''Unua Libro'' in '' Fundamento de Esperanto'', which he established as the only obligatory authority over Esperanto in the Declaration of Boulogne at the first
World Esperanto Congress The World Esperanto Congress ( eo, Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) is an annual Esperanto convention. It has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run for 113 years. The congresses have be ...
later that year. However, in his 1888 '' Aldono al la Dua Libro'' (''Supplement to the Second Book''), he officially altered the spelling of the suffixes of the temporal correlatives (''when'', ''then'', ''always'', ''sometimes'', ''never'') from ''-ian'' to ''-iam'', which rendered the Esperanto of ''Unua Libro'' slightly outdated.


Content

The book consists of three parts, an introduction, a grammar section, and a dictionary. Zamenhof begins by renouncing all rights to the language, putting it in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
. In the introduction, Zamenhof lays out his case for the need for an
international auxiliary language An international auxiliary language (sometimes acronymized as IAL or contracted as auxlang) is a language meant for communication between people from all different nations, who do not share a common first language. An auxiliary language is primaril ...
(IAL). He states that previous attempts, such as
Volapük Volapük (; , "Language of the World", or lit. "World Speak") is a constructed language created between 1879 and 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Catholic priest in Baden, Germany, who believed that God had told him in a dream to create an i ...
, have failed because they have not overcome the three main difficulties an IAL must overcome in order to succeed. Those difficulties are: In the next three parts, he addresses each difficulty specifically and explains why he believes Esperanto is fit to overcome them. In part I, he explains the simplicity and flexibility of
Esperanto grammar Esperanto is the most widely used constructed language intended for international communication; it was designed with highly regular grammatical rules, and as such is considered an easy language to learn. Each part of speech has a characteristic ...
, particularly due to its regularity and use of
affix In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...
es. In part II, he demonstrates the ease of using
Esperanto Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
for international communication due to a simple and clear vocabulary. To demonstrate this, he translates the
Our Father The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
and Genesis 1:1–9 and presents a fictional letter and a few poems in Esperanto—"El Heine'", a translation, and "Mia penso" and " Ho, mia kor'", both original. In part III, he presents an idea called the "universal vote", which is a campaign to allot 10 million signatures of people making the following pledge: "I, the undersigned, promise to learn the international language, proposed by Dr. Esperanto, if it shall be shown that ten million similar promises have been publicly given." He argues that this will prevent anyone from wasting time on learning the language since, once 10 million signatures have been gathered, there will be a significant population obliged to learn the language, rendering the language useful. He also welcomes critical feedback for the next year and promises to consider criticism before publishing a special booklet that will give definitive form to the language the following year (which was to be ''Aldono al la Dua Libro''). Additionally, he lays out guidelines for a language academy to guide the evolution of the language in the future (which was to be the
Akademio de Esperanto The Akademio de Esperanto (AdE; en, Academy of Esperanto, link=yes) is an independent body of Esperanto speakers who steward the evolution of said language by keeping it consistent with the ''Fundamento de Esperanto'' in accordance with the Decla ...
). In the grammar section, he explains the
Esperanto alphabet Esperanto is written in a Latin-script alphabet of twenty-eight letters, with upper and lower case. This is supplemented by punctuation marks and by various logograms, such as the digits 0–9, currency signs such as $ € ¥ £ ₷, and mathema ...
and sixteen grammar rules. In the dictionary section, he presents a dictionary with 917 roots of vocabulary.


Reception and legacy

Zamenhof received a wide range of reactions to ''Unua Libro'', from mocking criticism to avid interest. In the hundreds of letters he received, he saw enough support to prompt him to publish ''Dua Libro'' in January 1888 and ''
La Esperantisto ''La Esperantisto'' (English: ''The Esperantist''), stylised as ''La Esperantisto.'', was the first Esperanto periodical, published from 1889 to 1895. L. L. Zamenhof started it in order to provide reading material for the then-nascent Esperanto ...
'' in 1889, in order to provide more Esperanto reading material for those with interest. In 1889, he also published Russian–Esperanto and German–Esperanto dictionaries to increase Esperanto vocabulary, as well as ''Aldono al la Dua Libro'', a supplement to ''Dua Libro'', to establish the definitive form of the language, a document he promised in part III of ''Unua Libro''. By all measures, Zamenhof's "universal vote" campaign failed. By 1889, he had only reached 1000 signatures, a mere 0.01% of his goal of 10 million. Nevertheless, the Esperanto movement continued onward. Among the early supporters were educated Russian and
Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lo ...
,
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
and his followers,
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an
freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
s, and speakers of
Volapük Volapük (; , "Language of the World", or lit. "World Speak") is a constructed language created between 1879 and 1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Catholic priest in Baden, Germany, who believed that God had told him in a dream to create an i ...
who had lost hope in their language.


See also

*
History of Esperanto History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
*
Esperanto Day Esperanto Day ( eo, Esperanto-Tago) is a worldwide observance on 26 July, which celebrates the publication of ''Unua Libro'', the first book in the Esperanto language, by the language's creator, L. L. Zamenhof on this day in 1887. The annual multi- ...


Footnotes


Notes


References

* *


External links

* * {{wikisource-inline, Dr. Esperanto's International Language, single=true, ''Dr. Esperanto's International Language''
A collection of free Esperanto books compiled by David G. Simpson.
This collection includes, among many others, reprints of the "canonical books" of the Esperanto language, i.e., Unua Libro, Dua Libro (with the Aldono al la Dua Libro) and Fundamento de Esperanto. 1887 non-fiction books Esperanto history Esperanto literature Works published under a pseudonym