D.r Esperanto’s International Language

In July 1887, Esperanto made its debut as a 40-page pamphlet from Warsaw, published in Russian, Polish, French and German: all written by a Polish eye-doctor under the pen-name of Dr. Esperanto (“one who hopes”). Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof (1859-1917) had a gift for languages, and a calling to help foster world amity: by a neutral “Internacia Lingvo” that anyone anywhere could readily use as a second language: neither forsaking a mother tongue, nor imposing it. In 1889 Zamenhof published an English translation by Richard H. Geoghegan, a young Irish linguist. All five are respectively considered the “First Book”. This classic sets forth Esperanto pretty much as we know it today (except that we no longer use internal apostrophes for composite words). Its original repertoire of 900 root words has grown tenfold in the past century, but you can still almost make do with the vocabulary herein.

— Summary by Gene Keyes

Cover illustration is a portrait of Ludwik Zamenhof. This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years. Cover design by Nicholas Bridgewater. This design is in the public domain and may be reproduced, distributed, or modified without permission.

Read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. This recording is in the public domain and may be reproduced, distributed, or modified without permission.

LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. For more information or to volunteer, visit www.librivox.org.

ebenbue’7 jeuoijeusaju] s,ozuesads3 13'a