| 释义 |
Esperanto|ɛspəˈræntəʊ|
[Orig. the pen-name (Dr. Esperanto = Dr. Hoping-one) used by the inventor on the title-page of his book Langue internationale; préface et manuel complet, 1887.]
An artificial language invented for universal use by Dr. Ludovik Lazarus Zamenhof, a Polish physician. Its vocabulary consists of roots common to the chief European languages, with endings normalized. Also attrib., fig., and transf.
[1888‘J. St.’ (title) Dr. Esperanto's International Tongue... Edited for Englishmen.] 1892Science XIX. 32/1 Esperanto's grammatic rules are few in number, for they are all gathered upon four pages only. 1898R. H. Geoghegan (title) The International Language ‘Esperanto’. 1903Daily Chron. 13 Jan. 5/2 Esperanto is, in fact, a vocal international shorthand. 1905Westm. Gaz. 22 Sept. 2/1 Latin, the Esperanto of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. 1907Daily Chron. 23 Oct. 4/6 If this Esperanto sort of spirit could be extended to the coinage, how easy would holiday-making become! 1922C. R. Buxton In Russian Village xvi. 70 Petrov..called himself by the Esperanto name, ‘Peĉnego’. 1936[see establishment 8 b]. 1958Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Jan. 29/2 The promise not to use ‘technical jargon or the special esperanto of ciné-club experts’. 1960Koestler Lotus & Robot i. i. 37 It is true that there were a few huge concrete blocks in the usual Esperanto architecture. 1968Listener 19 Dec. 814/2 The way in which we are less and less able to understand what is said or done to us unless we can readily translate it all into the Esperanto of common pragmatism.
Hence Espeˈrantic a., resembling Esperanto; Espeˈrantist, one who is versed in Esperanto; an advocate of the spread of Esperanto as a world-language; also attrib.
1905Westm. Gaz. 4 May 10/2 The Congress of Esperantists. 1909M. L. Jones Advantages of Esperanto 2 (dedication) To my Esperantist friends of the Yorkshire Federation. 1909‘Ian Hay’ Man's Man vii, He first of all abused them with all the resources of an almost Esperantic vocabulary. 1916H. G. Wells Mr. Britling i. v. 164 ‘Just Esperantists,’ said Teddy. 1922C. R. Buxton In Russian Village xvi. 70 He was a fluent Esperantist. 1955Times 13 Aug. 5/5 Economists, students, or esperantists. |