[Ads-l] Antedating of "Esperanto"

[Rich Lowenthal]

Apologies for the pedantry, but "Dr. Esperanto" was Zamenhof's pseudonym 
rather than his name; he did not name the language himself, but his 
followers borrowed the name from his pseudonym.

It was a time of multiple "universal languages," with Volapük pre-dating 
Zamenhof's invention (there are also early references to Esperanto as a 
"Volapük.") That probably was a factor in any delay in Esperanto 
citations.

And for any who don't know, George Soros was raised speaking Esperanto.


------ Original Message ------
>From "Ben Zimmer" <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 9/13/2024 10:18:17
Subject Re: Antedating of "Esperanto"

>Elsewhere in that same 1888 article: "He is not required to know any other
>language than his own, nor are his foreign correspondents required to know
>the Esperanto language." Seems like a transitional case, where the name of
>the creator is getting applied to the name of the language and can be
>interpreted either way.
>
>On Fri, Sep 13, 2024 at 2:29 AM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com <
>mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> wrote:
>
>>  I've searched, and reviewed  references  that pre-date 1891 but they
>>  mostly  refer to  "Dr Esperanto's International Language"   rather
>>  than using Esperanto for the name of the  language itself.
>>
>>
>>  Actually, here's one from 14th July 1888   that appears to use it as the
>>  name.
>>
>>  "This is the grammar of Esperanto almost complete and we may proceed to
>>  translate a sample sentence of Esperanto. "
>>
>>
>>  https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Dominion_Illustrated/8DXM16DjChgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Esperanto&pg=PA30&printsec=frontcover
>>
>>
>>  ------ Original Message ------
>>  From "Martin Purdy" <00000bd8cf391c5b-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  <mailto:00000bd8cf391c5b-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
>>  To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Date 13/09/2024 04:51:22
>>  Subject Re: Antedating of "Esperanto"
>>
>>  I'm surprised the first traced reference is as late as 1891, since the
>>  first English-language Esperanto textbook was published in 1889 (an earlier
>>  attempt in 1888 was apparently withdrawn and destroyed, but that's another
>>  story).
>>  Martin
>>
>>
>>  On Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at 12:09:55 PM GMT+12, Shapiro, Fred <
>>  fred.shapiro at yale.edu<mailto:fred.shapiro at yale.edu>> wrote:
>>
>>  Esperanto (OED 1892)
>>
>>  1891 Sun (N.Y.) 12 Jan. 9/1 (Newspapers.com)
>>
>>  Associations are being organized all over Germany to hasten the
>>  introduction of a universal language called Esperanto.
>>
>>
>
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