Questions tagged [history]
Use it for questions about the history of Esperanto.
49 questions
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What are skemismo and naturalismo in Esperanto's language history?
I once encountered the terms skemismo and naturalismo to describe different philosophies about how Esperanto should be used or developed. What would be a good summary of these two opposing ...
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How and why did the different Esperanto affixes get choosen?
I really like Esperanto's system of prefixes and suffixes, being able to add all of them together to get the perfect word without needed to know specific vocabulary, but I don't exactly understand how ...
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Did Zamenhof recommend this usage of apostrophe in the H-System?
La Vikipedio has the following passage:
Por eviti la ambiguecon en tiu sistemo en vortoj kiel flughaveno, chashundo, traumata (ĉu traŭmata aŭ tra-um-ata?), oni devas aldone uzi alian montrilon. ...
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Why Esperanto uses "j" in the plural instead of "s"?
Is there any historical reason for this?
Does any language use j to indicate the plural?
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Ekde kiam oni celebras Esperanto-Tagon / Tago de Esperanto (26-a de julio)? Since when is Esperanto Day (July 26) being observed?
Esperanto-Tago / Tago de Esperanto en la 26-a julio memorigas evento de la jaro 1887. Sed ekde kiam oni celebras ĝin en tiu dato? En kiu jaro oni unue festis aŭ aktivis pri ĝi?
Esperanto Day on July ...
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Why did "kiom", "tiom", "iom" etc. without "da" fall out of fashion?
Nowadays, when an amount tabelvorto ("kiom", "tiom", "iom", "ĉiom" or "neniom") is followed by the thing(s) or category to which the amount refers, there's always a "da" between them. (See also Why is ...
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Esperanto evolution from "unua libro" to "fundamento"
What changes did Zamenhof made to Esperanto from the publication of the Unua libro to La Fundamento de Esperanto.
I only found the evolution of (correlatives) -an to -am. I wondered if there were any ...
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Who interviewed whom?
The Vikipedio article on Steve Allen says that Steve Allen interviewed Esperantist
William Harmon about Esperanto, but I would have thought it would be the other way around.
Is this just a glitch in ...
user1581
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What are origins of basic suffixes?
Is there an explicit reason for -o, -a, -e, -i? The longer ones vaguely remind me of similar words/constructs in different languages that influenced Esperanto, but the very basic ones seem completely ...
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How to contact the 'akademio de esperanto' [closed]
How to contact the 'Akademio de Esperanto' and suggest them to simplify/overhaul/revolutionise the Esperanto language by making plural forms, object agreement and other confusing language parts of the ...
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Does Esperanto evolve?
Does Esperanto evolve over time like a normal language?
In normal languages it happens that some words change meaning over time or some grammar changes.
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Kial nomiĝas la pilko en futbalo 'piedpilko', kaj ne futbalpilko?
Mi komprenas kial futbalo estas pli klara ol piedpilko, sed tio ĉi ne havas sencon por mi.
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Kion Zamenhof uzis anstataŭ «pluraj»?
Mi freŝe rimarkis, ke laŭ PIV, Zamenhof neniam uzis la vorton «pluraj». Plie la vortaro de Louis de Beaufront — aprobita de Zamenhof — ne enhavas ĝin. Mi ankaŭ ne povis trovi ĝin en la tekstoj de ...
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Has Esperanto ever been successfully reformed?
Many people have tried to change Esperanto to their own liking. Have any reform proposals ever entered the general language? (Are there, for example, Ido elements in current usage? – No this is not an ...
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Ĉu la pasiva formo "esti x[iao]ta" maloftiĝas favore al la uzado de -iĝ-?
Ĉu Esperantistoj pli kaj pli ofte uzas la sufikson -iĝ- anstataŭ la pasivan formon esti x[iao]ta? Mi havas la impreson ke jes. Mi vidas ofte prononciĝas kaj tradukiĝas, anstataŭ estas prononcata kaj ...
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How often are new loans fully integrated into Esperanto?
The borrowing of vocabulary is part and parcel of natural language evolution. Although Esperanto is now without doubt a full living language, it is nevertheless somewhat unusual as it is still spoken ...
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What are the big events that help spread the Esperanto Language
I am looking at the history of the Esperanto Language
I wonder what are the big events (old or recent) that helped to spread or just get people know that the language exists
Starting the list
...
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Kio estas la vera signifo de "muĝi"?
Laŭ PIV, «muĝi» signifas:
1. Bleki, kiel bovo.
2. (figurasence) Aŭdigi fortan, obtuzan, longe tiratan sonon: muĝanta popolamaso.
Ŝajnas do, ke «bleki kiel bovo» estas la precipa signifo, ĉu ne? ...
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When did Couturat say Esperanto lacks recursion?
I saw on a few Wikipedia pages that René de Saussure apparently “opposed the criticism of Louis Couturat that Esperanto lacks recursion”. However, the previous sentence talks about the principle of “...
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Why was "kaj" chosen?
The conjunction "and" is so universal and ubiquitous that languages in which it is more than one letter tend to shorten it (English &, German u., both having existed for centuries if I'm not ...
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Why is Ŭ the only hat-letter [Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ, Ŭ] that doesn't use a circumflex?
All of the Esperanto diacritic characters use a circumflex except for Ŭ. Is there a reason that the letter ended up this way. Why isn't it Û instead, to go better with the other diacritic characters?
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Is Esperanto likely to survive in future?
I have been, for the last few months, ambivalent about learning Esperanto. Actually, I have yet to learn much of anything because I cannot gauge whether it would be reasonable to take time to do so ...
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What were Clarence Bicknell's Esperanto translations of Alfred Tennyson's poems published in?
I've found a lot of places claiming that he produced these translations, but no one seems to know where they were published(or whether they still exist at all in any format, for that matter).
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De kio “saluton” estas la rekta objekto?
"Saluton" finiĝas per "n" sekve saluton estas rekta objekto, sed la rekta objekto de kio?
"Saluton" ends with an "n" thus it's a direct object, but the direct object of what?
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What was the first Esperanto telegram ever sent?
I remember somewhere reading that in some year Esperanto was approved as a language for use in telegraphy, so that it would cost less than being calculated as a telegram written in code, but currently ...
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Kiel pluramemo iĝis populara en Esperantio?
Mi multe aŭdis ke inter la parolantoj de la lingvo Esperanto ekzistas sufiĉe granda elcento de homoj, kiuj vivas en pluramemaj rilatoj.
Ekzemple, la anoj de tre konata muzikbando "La Perdita ...
- 3,183
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When "ali-" gets merged with the tabelvortoj - An example of irregularity in Esperanto
This is a common mistake (or proposal) I have seen in Esperanto; I have recently heard the word "alies" when listening to ĈRI, and I have also encountered it in Hasegawa Teru's (Verda Majo's) En Ĉinio ...
- 1,475
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Seksaj proporcioj en la komenco de Esperanto
Mi legis ĉi tiun demandon pri seksaj proporcioj en la nuna tempo kaj pensis pri la infaneco de Esperanto. En la mondo, tiom multe ŝanĝiĝis por la seksoj ekde la 1880-aj jaroj. Kiel aspektis la seksaj ...
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What were the main reasons for creating iĉismo?
I can understand why in the context of today's discussions on gender, and I see a need for it, but what were the main reasons for creating iĉismo? I would like to know who created it and why.
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Kial "-iĉ-" por viriĉoj en la iĉisma sistemo?
Kiam la iĉisma sistemo estis verkita, kial ili elektis -iĉ- por la virgenra sufikso? Ĉu tio havas iun originon de iu nacia lingvo?
- 8,086
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What are the most common misconceptions about Esperanto?
Sometimes otherwise well educated people, can say the strangest things about Esperanto and its speakers. What are the most common misconceptions, prejudice and myths that we face? Are these ...
user410
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Why do so many prejudices and misinformation exist about Esperanto?
I often heard so many misbeliefs about Esperanto, from people who know absolutely nothing about the language. Sadly, those who spread those rumors are often well educated people.
The common mistakes ...
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Alternativoj por rolvorteto plus i-verbo
Laŭ PMEG, estas “tabuo” uzi i-verbon post rolvorteto krom la 4 specifaj rolvertetoj por, anstataŭ, krom kaj sen. En tiu priskribo sekvas rekomendoj por anstataŭigi specifajn oftajn rolvortetojn. Kaj ...
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Why are so many Esperanto word roots derived from French?
As stated in esperanto.net FAQ
About 75 % of Esperanto's vocabulary comes from Latin and Romance languages (especially French), about 20 % comes from Germanic languages (German and English), and ...
- 1,661
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Was Zamenhof wanting to introduce ambiguity with the plural -i instead of -oj?
In Reformed Esperanto, and also at the start of Esperanto, Zamenhof wanted to introduce plurals using -i instead of the Greek influenced -oj. Was he planning on introducing another infinitive (like ...
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Why doesn't Esperanto use "neutral" days and months?
With its building block style, and being a new language, why did Esperanto use existing variations of days and months, instead of a neutral, generic, building block approach, for example using ...
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How did Ido influence Esperanto grammatically?
As far as I know, some Esperantist were unhappy with some grammar constructs and branched the language.
How did Ido influence Esperanto from the grammatical point of view since then?
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Kiel Volapüko influis Esperanton?
Antaŭ la kreado de Esperanto jam ekzistis planlingvo nomata Volapük. Post la eldono de la Unua Libro, multaj Volapükkluboj iĝis Esperantaj kluboj.
Sed kiel Volapüko influis Esperanton? Ĉu oni uzas ...
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What kind of word is "spite"?
I mostly read it in older works. Can I treat it like a regular word, and what would spito, spita, spiti etc mean?
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What is the origin of the Esperanto green star ("Verda Stelo")?
What is the origin of the Esperanto green star symbol (Verda Stelo)?
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Why are country names in Esperanto so "irregular"?
One of the selling points of Esperanto is its regularity. However, one area where I have noticed this is not the case is in country names. As far as I can tell there are at least three competing ...
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How much has Esperanto changed over the years since the publication of Fundamento de Esperanto? [closed]
I have been let know that the Esperanto community is known to be resistant to change. Languages like Ido and Zamenhof's Reformed Esperanto haven't got nearly as much attention as the main language, ...
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Are there good reasons for the prefixes and suffixes in the table of correlatives?
Zamenhof's innovation of the table of correlatives (AFAIK the first one in any language) is brilliant, but I was always a little perplexed by some of the oddities in it. So I am wondering if anyone ...
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Why is Esperanto popular in Iran?
Is there a reason why Esperanto is a lot more popular in Iran, compared to some countries like Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa?
- 1,661
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What is the link between billionaire investor George Soros and Esperanto?
I have sometimes heard the name George Soros thrown around as a possible financier of different Esperanto projects. Is this only done as a joke, or does he actually have some involvement with ...
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Who is in charge of Esperanto?
Is there a committee that is maintaining the language e.g. accepting/rejecting new words? And what are the processes/policies there?
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How did the h-system of typing accented characters come about?
eg. "ch" instead of "ĉ".
It's less common than the x-system of typing accented characters, but some Esperanto sites do have it as an option, such as http://bertilow.com/.
It seems to introduce ...
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How do you become "Esperantist of the Year" (Esperantisto de la Jaro)?
"Esperantisto de la Jaro" is a famous title given every year by the periodical La Ondo de Esperanto. The award recipient is selected by an international jury led by Halina Gorecka, without any clear ...
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What happened to the letter ĥ during the evolution of Esperanto from Zamenhof to our times?
There is a strong tendency in Esperanto to replace the letter ĥ by different means (e.g. arĥitekto becomes arkitekto). What happened to the letter ĥ? Why is it singled out as a target for replacement?
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