About L. L. Zamenhof
L. L. Zamenhof (1859–1917) was the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language. Zamenhof published Esperanto in 1887, although his initial ideas date back as far as 1873. 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 (IAL). The language was intended as a tool to gather people together through neutral, fair, equitable communication. He successfully formed a community which has survived to this day, despite the World Wars of the 20th century and various attempts to reform the language or create more modern IALs (Esperanto itself had displaced another similarly-motivated language, Volapük). Additionally, Esperanto has developed like other languages: through the interaction and creativity of its users. In light of his achievements, and his support of intercultural dialogue, UNESCO selected Zamenhof as one of its eminent personalities of 2017, on the 100th anniversary of his death. According to Esperanto communities, as of 2019 there are approximately 2 million people speaking Esperanto, including approximately 1,000 native speakers, although evidence to that has been heavily disputed, and the last major effort to improve the estimate occurred in 2004. == Name == Zamenhof came from a multilingual area. His name is transliterated as follows: English: Louis Lazarus Zamenhof – English pronunciation: Esperanto: Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhof – pronounced [ludoˈviko laˈzaro zamenˈhof] French: Louis Lazare Zamenhof – pronounced [lwi la.zaʁ za.mɛn.of] German: Ludwig (Levi) Lazarus Samenhof – pronounced [ˈluːtvɪç ˈlaːtsaʁʊs ˈzaːmənhoːf] Hebrew: אליעזר (לודוויג) זמנהוף, romanized: Eli'ezer Ludvig Zamenhof – pronounced [eliˈ(ʕ)ezeʁ ˈludvig ˈzamenhof] Lithuanian: Liudvikas Lazaris (Leizeris) Zamenhofas Polish: Ludwik Łazarz Zamenhof – pronounced [ˈludvʲik ˈwazaʐ zaˈmɛnxɔf] Russian: Людвик Лазарь (Лейзер) Маркович Заменгоф, romanized: Lyudvik Lazar' (Leyzer) Markovich Zamengof Belarusian: Людвіг Лазар Маркавіч Заменгоф (Заменгоў), romanized: Liudvih Lazar Markavič Zamienhof (Zamienhoŭ) Yiddish: לײזער לוי זאַמענהאָף, romanized: Leyzer Leyvi Zamenhof Born into an Ashkenazi family, at his birth Zamenhof was given the common Hebrew name Eliezer by his parents, which is translated into English as Lazarus.
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