ABSTRACT
Zamenhof first began working on his idea for a new universal language when he was a teenager, but put it aside for several years while he studied medicine. He published the book under the pseudonym Dr. Esperanto, meaning ‘Dr. Hopeful’, and in time the language itself came to be called Esperanto. The spelling of Esperanto is very easy, since every word is pronounced exactly as it is written. As for the vocabulary, Zamenhof took words from various European languages with which he was familiar and which he thought would be the most familiar to others. The great bulk of the vocabulary comes from Romance and Germanic languages, particularly French, Latin, and German, which Zamenhof knew from childhood. Esperanto quickly developed a following, spreading across Europe and even further afield. The first international Esperanto Congress was held in France in 1905 and had nearly 700 participants from twenty countries. Esperanto has even had native speakers, including Zamenhof’s own children.
