L. L.

Zamenhof
Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof(Polish: Ludwik Łazarz Zamenhof; 15 December [O.S. 3
L. L. Zamenhof
December] 1859 – 14 April [O.S. 1 April] 1917),[2] usually credited as L. L.
Zamenhof, was a Polish-Jewish[3] medical doctor, inventor, and writer. He is most
widely known for creating Esperanto, the most successful constructed language in
the world.[4] He grew up fascinated by the idea of a world without war and believed
that this could happen with the help of a new international auxiliary language, which
he first developed in 1873 while still in school.[2]

Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Work on Yiddish language and Jewish issues
1.2 Religious philosophy
2 Name discrepancy
3 Honours and namesakes
4 Bibliography (partial) Born Ludwik Lejzer
4.1 Original works Zamenhof
4.1.1 Periodicals 15 December 1859
4.1.2 Poems Białystok, Russian
4.2 Translations Empire
5 Gallery (now Poland)
6 See also Died 14 April 1917 (aged 57)
7 Notes Warsaw, Poland
8 References Known for Creating Esperanto
9 External links
Spouse(s) Klara Zamenhof
Children Adam, Sofia, and Lidia

Biography Signature

Zamenhof was born on 15 December (3

December OS) 1859 in the town of
Białystok, Poland, at that time in the former Russian Empire as a result of the 18th-century
partition of Poland. His parents were of Polish-Lithuanian Jewish descent that inhabited the
central part of the formerPolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He appears to have been natively
bilingual in Yiddish and Russian (the Polish language was restricted and forbidden in public
conversations by the Tsarist authorities),[5] presumably the Belarusian language of his home
town, though it may have been only his father who spoke Russian with him at home. From his
father, a teacher of German and French, he learned those languages and Hebrew as well.
Despite this he spoke Polish, one of the major languages of Białystok alongside Yiddish,
Belarusian, and German, and it was Polish that was to become the native language of his
children after settling in the Kingdom of Poland. In school he studied the classical languages:
Zamenhof, around 1879
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. He later learned some English, though in his own words not very well, had an interest in
Lithuanian and Italian, and learned Volapük when it came out in 1880, though by that point his international language project was
already well developed.[6][7]

In addition to the Yiddish-speaking Jewish majority, the population of Białystok was made up ofCatholic Poles and Belarusians, with
smaller groups of Russians, Germans, Lipka Tatars, Lithuanians and others. Zamenhof was saddened and frustrated by the many
quarrels among these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and prejudice lay in the mutual misunderstanding caused
by the lack of one common language. If such a language existed, Zamenhof postulated, it could play the role of a neutral
communication tool between people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.[8]

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 later studied English, he decided that the international language must have a
simpler grammar. Apart from his parents' native languages Russian and Yiddish and his adopted language Polish, his linguistics
attempts were also aided by his mastering of German, a good passive understanding of Latin, Hebrew and French, and a basic
knowledge of Greek, English and Italian.[9]

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 a doctor in Veisiejai and after 1886 as an ophthalmologist in Płock and Vienna. While healing
people there he continued to work on his project of an 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
Международный язык. Предисловие и полный учебник (International language:
Introduction and complete textbook) was published in Russian[10] under the pseudonym
"Doktoro Esperanto" (Doctor Hopeful). Zamenhof initially called his language "Lingvo
internacia" (international language), but those who learned it began to call it Esperanto after
his pseudonym, and this soon became the official name for the language. For Zamenhof this
language, far from being merely a communication tool, was a way of promoting the peaceful
coexistence of different people and cultures.[4]

Work on Yiddish language and Jewish issues

Unua libro published in
In 1879 Zamenhof wrote the first grammar of the Yiddish language, which he published in
Russian, 1887
part years later in the Yiddish magazine Lebn un visnshaft.[11] The complete original Russian
text of this manuscript was only published in 1982, with parallel Esperanto translation by
Adolf Holzhaus, in L. Zamenhof, provo de gramatiko de novjuda lingvo [An attempt at a
grammar of neo-Jewish language], Helsinki, p. 9–36. In this work, not only does he
provide a review of Yiddish grammar, but also proposes its transition to the Latin script
and other orthographic innovations. In the same period Zamenhof wrote some other works
in Yiddish, including perhaps the first survey of Yiddish poetics (see p. 50 in the above-
cited book).

In 1882 a wave of pogroms within the Russian Empire, including Congress Poland,
motivated Zamenhof to take part in the early Zionist movement, the Hibbat Zion.[12] He
left the movement in 1887, and in 1901 published a statement in Russian with the title
Hillelism, in which he argued that the Zionist project could not solve the problems of the
Zamenhof at his desk in Jewish people.[12]
Warsaw apartment, 1910
In 1914 he declined an invitation to join a new organization of Jewish Esperantists, the
TEHA. In his letter to the organizers, he said, "I am profoundly convinced that every
nationalism offers humanity only the greatest unhappiness... It is true that the nationalism of oppressed peoples – as a natural self-
defensive reaction – is much more excusable than the nationalism of peoples who oppress; but, if the nationalism of the strong is
ignoble, the nationalism of the weak is imprudent; both give birth to and support each other..."[12] Among the many works of
Zamenhof translated into Esperanto is theHebrew Bible or the Old Testament.

Zamenhof died in Warsaw on 14 April 1917, possibly of heart failure,[13] and was buried at the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery.
The farewell speech was delivered by the chief rabbi and preacher of the Great Synagogue in Warsaw, Samuel Abraham Poznański,
who said: "There will be a time where the Polish soil and nation will understand what fame gave this great son of God to his
homeland."[14]

Religious philosophy
Besides his linguistic work, Zamenhof published a religious philosophy he called
Homaranismo (the term in Esperanto, usually rendered as "humanitism" in
English,[15] sometimes rendered loosely as humanitarianism or humanism), based on
the principles and teachings of Hillel the Elder. He astonishingly said of
Homaranismo: "It is indeed the object of my whole life. I would give up everything
for it."[16]
Play media

Name discrepancy Zamenhof speaking at theWorld

Esperanto Congress in Barcelona
Zamenhof came from and lived a very-much multilingual life. His name is/was (Spain) in 1909.
variously, depending on the language:

English: Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof –/ˈzɑːmɪnhɒf, -nɒv, -nɒf/

Esperanto: Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhofo– Esperanto pronunciation:[ludo
ˈviko laˈzaro zamenˈhofo]
German: Ludwig "Levi" Lazarus Samenhof
Hebrew: ‫ – אליעזר לודוויג זמנהוף‬Eliezer Ludwig Zamenhof
Polish: Ludwik Łazarz Zamenhof
Russian: Лю́двик Ла́ зарь "Лейзер" Ма́ ркович Заменго́ в – Lyudvik
Lazar' "Leizer" Markovich Zamengov
Yiddish: ‫ – לײזער ל ֵוִי זאַמענהאָף‬Leyzer "Levi" Zamenhof
At his birth Zamenhof was given the Hebrew name Eliezer by his parents, the Families Zamenhof andAlfred
equivalent of the Latinized Lazarus. However Zamenhof was born under Russian Michaux at the first Esperanto
domination, and so his birth certificate records his name as Лейзер Заменго́ в Congress, Boulogne 1905
Leyzer Zamengov, using the Yiddish form of the forename and a russified version of
his surname;[17] many later Russian language documents also include the
patronymic Markovich, as is the custom in the language. His family name is of German origin and was originally written Samenhof;
iddish spelling ‫זאַמענהאָף‬, as well as the Esperanto and Polish spellings.
the spelling Zamenhof reflects the romanization of the Y

In his adolescence he used both the Yiddish Leyzer and the Russian Lazar.

While at university, Zamenhof began using the Russian name Lyudovik (also transcribed Ludovic or translated as Ludwig) in place of
Lazar, possibly in honor of Francis Lodwick, who in 1652 had published an early conlang proposal.[18] When his brother Leon
[19] Zamenhof reclaimed his birth nameLazar and from 1901 signed
became a doctor and started signing his name "Dr L. Zamenhof",
his name "Dr L. L. Zamenhof" to avoid confusion with his brother. The two L's do not seem to have specifically represented either
name, and the order Ludwik Lazar is a modern convention.

Honours and namesakes

In 1905 Zamenhof received the Légion d'honneur for creating Esperanto.[20] In 1910,
Zamenhof was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, by four British Members of Parliament
(including James O'Grady, Philip Snowden) and Professor Stanley Lane Poole.[21] (The Prize
was instead awarded to theInternational Peace Bureau.) On the occasion of the 5th Universala
Kongreso de Esperanto in Barcelona, Zamenhof was made a Commander of the Order of
Isabella the Catholic by King Alfonso XIII of Spain.[22]

The minor planet 1462 Zamenhof is named in his honor. It was discovered on 6 February
1938, by Yrjö Väisälä. Also, hundreds of city streets, parks, and bridges worldwide have been
named after Zamenhof.[23] In Lithuania, the best-known Zamenhof Street is in Kaunas, where
he lived and owned a house for some time. There are others in Poland, the United Kingdom,
France, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Spain (mostly in Catalonia), Italy, Israel, Belgium and
Brazil. There are Zamenhof Hills in Hungary and Brazil, and a Zamenhof Island in the L. L. Zamenhof Statue in
Danube.[24] Prilep, Republic of
Macedonia
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 (a variant of which, El'azar, is the
origin of Lazarus). Zamenhof is honored as a deity by the Japanese religion Oomoto, which encourages the use of Esperanto among
its followers. Also, a genus oflichen has been named Zamenhofia in his honour.[25]

In 1959, Unesco honoured Zamenhof in the occasion of his centenary.[26] In 2015 Unesco decided to support the celebration of the
[27]
100th anniversary of the death of Ludwik Zamenhof.

[28]
Zamenhof was 12 times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

His birthday, 15 December, is celebrated annually as Zamenhof Day by users of Esperanto. On 15 December 2009, Esperanto's
green-starred flag flew on the Google search web page, in a commemorativeGoogle Doodle to mark Zamenhof's 150th birthday.[29]

The house of the Zamenhof family, dedicated to Ludwik Zamenhof, and the Białystok Esperanto Centre, are sites of the Jewish
Heritage Trail in Białystok, which was opened in June 2008 by volunteers atThe University of Białystok Foundation.[30]

Bibliography (partial)

Original works
Unua Libro, 1887 (English: First Book)
Dua Libro, 1888 (Second Book)
Aldono al la Dua Libro, 1888 (Supplement to the Second Book)
Hilelismo – propono pri solvo de la hebrea demando , 1901 (Hillelism: A Project in Response to the Jewish Question
)
Esenco kaj estonteco de la ideo de lingvo internacia
, 1903 (Essence and Future of the Idea of an International
Language)
Fundamenta Krestomatio de la Lingvo Esperanto , 1903 (Basic Anthology of the Esperanto Language)
Fundamento de Esperanto, 1905 (Foundation of Esperanto)
Declaration of Boulogne, 1905
Homaranismo, 1913 (Humanitism)[31]

Periodicals

La Esperantisto, 1889–1895 (The Esperantist)

Lingvo Internacia, 1895–1914 (International Language)
La Revuo, 1906–1914 (The Review)
Poems

"Al la fratoj" ("To the Brothers")

"La Espero" ("The Hope")
"Ho, mia kor'" ("Oh, My Heart")
"Mia penso" ("My Thought")
"La vojo" ("The Way")

Translations
La batalo de l' vivo (The Battle of Life) by Charles Dickens
Ifigenio en Taŭrido (Iphigenia in Tauris) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Hamleto, Reĝido de Danujo(Hamlet, Prince of Denmark) by William Shakespeare
Malnova Testamento (Old Testament) (parts)
Marta by Eliza Orzeszkowa
La Rabistoj (The Robbers) by Friedrich Schiller
La Revizoro (The Government Inspector) by Nikolai Gogol

Gallery

Grave of L. L. Zamenhof Eliezer Zamenhof street Commemorative plaque Zamenhof, relief by Ivan
in Warsaw in Tel Aviv: the street at 5 Zamenhofa Street in Minekov, Bulgaria
sign in Hebrew and Warsaw where the house
Esperanto states he is in which Zamenhof lived
the creator of the and worked in 1898–
international language 1915 stood
Esperanto

Site of former 6 Zielona Obverse of medal with

Street in Białystok, where Ludovic Lazarus
Zamenhof was born Zamenhof by Gosławski
(1959)

See also
 Polish people
1462 Zamenhof, a minor planet named in Zamenhof's honour
1421 Esperanto, another minor planet, similarly named
The Life of Zamenhof
The Ludwik Zamenhof Centrein Białystok

Notes
1. Ker Than, "L.L. Zamenhof: Who He Was, Why He's on Google" (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/0
91215-ll-zamenhof-google-doodle-esperanto-150th-birthday
.html), National Geographic, 15 December 2009.
2. Gabriela Zalewska (2010)."Zamenhof, Ludwik (1859–1917)"(http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Zamenho
f_Ludwik). The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
. Trans. by Anna Grojec. YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
3. http://www.biographybase.com/biography/zamenhof_l_l.html
4. Zasky, Jason (2009-07-20), "Discouraging Words" (http://failuremag.com/feature/article/discouraging_words/),
Failure Magazine, "But in terms of invented languages, it's the most outlandishly successful invented language ever
.
It has thousands of speakers—even native speakers—and that's a major accomplishment as compared to the 900 or
so other languages that have no speakers. – Arika Okrent "
5. Christer Kiselman (2008).Esperanto: Its Origins and Early History(http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf)
(PDF). Prace Komisji Spraw Europejskich PAU. Tom II, pp. 39–56. Polish Academy of Learning. p. 2. Retrieved
15 December 2014. "What was his first language? He wrote in a letter in 1901 that his “parental language” (mother
tongue) was Russian, but that at the time he was speaking more in Polish (Zamenhof 1929:523). However , all other
evidence points to Yiddish as his mother tongue and first language."
6. Christer Kiselman, "Esperanto: Its origins and early history"(http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf)
, in
Andrzej Pelczar, ed., 2008, Prace Komisji Spraw Europejskich PAU, vol. II, pp. 39–56, Krakaw.
7. Claude Piron (1984). "Kontribuaĵo al la studo pri la influoj de la jida sur Esperanton"(http://user.in-berlin.de/~maxnet/
esperanto/piron/jida.htm). Jewish Language Review. 4.
8. "Birth of Ludwig Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto | History oday"
T (http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/birt
h-ludwig-zamenhof-creator-esperanto). www.historytoday.com. Retrieved 2017-08-09.
9. Holzhaus, Adolf: Doktoro kaj lingvo Esperanto. Helsinki: Fondumo Esperanto. 1969
10. Keith Brown and Sarah Ogilvie,Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World(Elsevier, 2009: ISBN 0-08-
087774-5), p. 375.
11. Vilnius, 1909; see Esperanto translation asPri jida gramatiko kaj reformo en la jida(On Yiddish grammar and reform
in Yiddish) in Hebreo el la geto: De cionismo al hilelismo(A Hebrew from the ghetto: From Zionism to Hillelism),
Eldonejo Ludovikito, vol. 5, 1976
12. N. Z. Maimon (May–June 1958)."La cionista periodo en la vivo de Zamenhof"(http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/Li
teraturo/Revuoj/nlr/nlr35/cionistau.html). Nica Literatura Revuo (3/5): 165–177.
13. "Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof – Founder of Esperanto"(http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/collections/esperanto/Planned_language
s_Ludwig_Lazar_Zamenhof.htm), Department of Planned Languages.
14. https://web.archive.org/web/20070630123854/http://www
.szukamypolski.pl/rzeznia.php?id=22
15. Meaning in the Age of Modernism: C. K. Ogden and his contemporaries, Thesis of James McElvenny
, 2013 (http://se
s.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/9810/1/J-McElvenny2013.pdf)
16. Edmond Privat, "The Life of Zamenhof" p 117.
17. Birth Certificate N 47: "Leyzer Zamengov , son of Mordkha Fayvelovich Zamengov and Liba Sholemovna Sofer"(htt
p://www.bialystok.ap.gov.pl/bit/50lat/boznicze_zamenhof1.jpg)
18. Umberto Eco & James Fentress (9 September 1995).The Search for the Perfect Language. Blackwell Publishing.
p. 324. ISBN 0-631-17465-6.
19. Wincewicz, Andrzej; Sulkowska, Mariola; Musiatowicz, Marcin; Sulkowski, Stanislaw (June 2009). "Laryngologist
Leon Zamenhof—brother of Dr. Esperanto". American Journal of Audiology. United States. 18 (1): 3–6.
doi:10.1044/1059-0889(2008/08-0002)(https://doi.org/10.1044%2F1059-0889%282008%2F08-0002%29) .
ISSN 1059-0889 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1059-0889). PMID 18978199 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/
18978199).
20. "3 россиянина, награждённые орденом Почётного легиона за необычные заслуги (3 Russians A warded Légion
d'honneur for Unusual Merits)"(http://sobesednik.ru/incident/20130816-3-samykh-neobychnykh-nagrazhdeniya-rossi
yan-ordenom-pochetnogo-legiona). Russian Daily "Sobesednik". 16 August 2013 . Retrieved 9 September 2014.
21. Nobel Prize nomnination database(http://nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/nomination.php?action=show&showid=52
9)
22. Olaizola, Borja. "Chatear en Esperanto, vigésimo idioma del mundo más usado en la red."
El Correo. 30/03/2011. (ht
tp://www.webislam.com/?idt=19050)
23. See the list of Zamenhof/Esperanto Objectson the Wikipedia in Esperanto
24. Hommages au Dr Zamenhof, à l'espéranto et à ses pionniers(http://www.esperanto-sat.info/article187.html).
25. Zamenhofia rosei: Francis' lichen. Range, habitat, biology(http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/fungi/Zamenhofia_ros
ei/more_info.html).
26. Jewish Telegraphic Agency: UNESCO to Honor Memory of Zamenhof, Jewish Creator of Esperanto(http://www.jta.o
rg/1959/12/16/archive/unesco-to-honor-memory-of-zamenhof-jewish-creator-of-esperanto)
, December 16, 1959
27. Unesco (http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002352/235205e.pdf)
; UEA: Zamenhof omaĝota(http://uea.org/akt
uale/komunikoj/2015/Gxenerala-Konferenco-de-Unesko-finigxis-%E2%80%93-Zamenhof-omagxota)
28. "Espéranto, la langue qui se voulait "universala
" " (https://www.franceinter.fr/societe/esperanto-cent-ans-mort-create
ur-zamenhof). France Inter.
29. Google Doodles Archive: 150th Birthday of LL Zamenhof(https://www.google.com/doodles/150th-birthday-of-ll-zame
nhof) Retrieved 2010-04-01.
30. Jewish Heritage Trail in Białystok (http://szlak.uwb.edu.pl/sites.html)accessed 25 July 2009.
31. http://homarano.narod.ru/Windows/homar_e.htm

References
Elwood, Ann (1975). "Toward a Universal Language". The Peoples Almanac. Garden City NY: Doubleday and
Company. ISBN 0-385-04060-1.
Le Petit Robert: 'Zamenhof'. Paris; Montréal: Dictionnaires Le Robert, 1990.
ISBN 2-85036-074-0.
Schmadel, Lutz D (1993).Dictionary of Minor Planet Names(2 ed.). Berlin; New York: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 3-540-
66292-8.
Wincewicz, A; Sulkowska, M.; Sulkowski, S. (2007)."To heal the mind's eye of hate—Dr. Ludwik Zamenhof" (PDF).
Isr Med Assoc J. 9 (5): 352–4. PMID 17591370.
Korĵenkov, Aleksander (2009). Homarano : La vivo, verkoj kaj ideoj de d-ro L.L.Zamenhof(1 ed.). Kaliningrad;
Kaunas: Sezonoj; Litova Esperanto-Asocio. p. 320.ISBN 978-609-95087-0-2.

External links
Zamenhof, Esperanto's founder(in English) on lernu!, an Esperanto study portal
Aleksandr Korzhenkov, "Zamenhof: The Life, Works, and Ideas of the Author of Esperanto" – a 53-page scholarly
text abridged from a 2009 book (in English)
Works by L. L. Zamenhofat Project Gutenberg
Works by or about L. L. Zamenhofat Internet Archive
Works by L. L. Zamenhofat LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Joseph Jacobs, Isidore Harris,"ZAMENHOF, LAZARUS LUDWIG". Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 edn.
Esther Schor, "L.L. Zamenhof and the Shadow People", The New Republic, 30 December 2009
9 Things You Should Know about Esperanto& Its Creator from Culture.pl

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