L. L. Zamenhof
 |
L. L. Zamenhof |
Ludovic Lazarus (
Ludwik Lejzer,
Ludwik Łazarz)
Zamenhof (
December 15,
1859 –
April 14,
1917) was an
eye doctor,
philologist, and the initiator of
Esperanto, the most widely spoken and successful
constructed language in the world. His native languages were
Russian,
Yiddish and
Polish (according to biographers A.Zakrzewski, E.Wiesenfeld), but he also spoke
German fluently. Later he learned
French,
Latin,
Greek,
Hebrew and
English, and he also had an interest in
Italian,
Spanish and
Lithuanian.
Zamenhof was born on
December 15,
1859 in the town of
Białystok (in
Poland, then part of the
Russian Empire) to
Litvish parents. The town's population was made up of three major ethnic groups: Poles,
Belorusians, and a large group of
Yiddish-speaking Jews. Zamenhof was saddened and frustrated by the many quarrels between these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and prejudice lay in mutual misunderstanding, caused by the lack of one common
language that would play the role of a neutral communication tool between people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
As a student at secondary school in
Warsaw, Zamenhof made attempts to create some kind of international language with a grammar that was very rich, but also very complex. When he studied English (along with German, French, Latin and Greek), he decided that the international language must have a relatively simple grammar with a wide use of suffixes to make new forms of the words.
By
1878, his project
Lingwe uniwersala was almost finished. However Zamenhof was too young then to publish his work. Soon after graduation from school he began to study
medicine, first in
Moscow, and later in Warsaw. In
1885, Zamenhof graduated from a
university and began his practice as an ophthalmologist. While healing people he continued to work on his project of the international language.
For two years he tried to raise funds to publish a booklet describing the language until he received the financial help from his future wife's father. In
1887, the book titled as
"Lingvo internacia. Antaŭparolo kaj plena lernolibro" (International Language. Foreword And Complete Textbook) was published under the
pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto" (Doctor Hopeful), from which the name of the language derives. For Zamenhof this language wasn't merely a communication tool, but a means of spreading his ideas on the peaceful coexistence of different peoples and cultures. Among the many works he translated into Esperanto is the
Old Testament.
Zamenhof and his wife Klara raised three children: a son, Adam, and two daughters, Sofia and Lidia. All three perished in
the Holocaust.
Lidia Zamenhof in particular took a keen interest in Esperanto, and as an adult became a teacher of the language, traveling through Europe and to America to teach classes in it. Through her friendship with
Martha Root, Lidia accepted
Bahá'u'lláh and became a member of the
Bahá'í faith. As one of its social principles, the Bahá'í faith teaches that an auxiliary world language must be selected by the representatives of all the world's nations.
Zamenhof died in Warsaw on
April 14,
1917, and is buried in the
Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery in that city. He is considered a god by the
Oomoto religion.
Zamenhof also published a religious philosophy he called
Homaranismo (loosely translated as
humanitarianism), based on the principles and teachings of
Hillel the Elder.
Zamenhof's parents gave him the Hebrew name
Eliezer, which appeared on his birth certificate in its Yiddish form
Leyzer. In his adolescence he used both Leyzer and the Russian equivalent
Lazar (the form
Lazarus is often used in English texts). In some Russian documents Lazar was followed by the
patronymic Markovich.
While at university, Zamenhof began using the
gentile Russian name
Lyudovik (often transcribed
Ludovic; Polish
Ludwik; in English the form
Ludwig is also used) in place of Lazar. When his brother Leon became a doctor and started signing his name "Dr L. Zamenhof", Lyudovik reclaimed his birth name Lazar and from 1901 signed his name "Dr L. L. Zamenhof". The two L's do not seem to have specifically represented either name, and the order
Ludovic Lazarus is a modern convention.
Zamenhof may have chosen the name Lyudovik in honor of
Francis Lodwick (or Lodowyck), who in
1652 had published an early
conlang proposal.
His family name was written
Samenhof in German orthography;
Zamenhof is an Esperantized spelling.
The
minor planet (1462) Zamenhof is named in his honor. It was discovered on
February 6,
1938 by
Yrjö Väisälä.
Hundreds of city streets worldwide have been named after Zamenhof, in
Lithuania - most famous is one city
Kaunas, where he lived and owned a house for some time, also in
France,
Poland,
Spain (mostly in
Catalonia),
Israel, and
Brazil.
In some Israeli cities, street signs identify Esperanto's creator and give his birth and death dates, but refer to him solely by his Jewish name Eliezer (the origin of Lazarus).
* Schmadel, Lutz D.
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (2nd ed.). Berlin; New York: Springer-Verlag, 1993. ISBN 3540662928
*
VisitBiałystok.com* Ludwik Zamenhof monument in Białystok -
Picture*
XXXI High School of L. Zamenhof, Lodz, Poland (in English)
*
Free ebook of L. L. Zamenhof at
Project Gutenberg (In Esperanto)
