Page:Ido Exhaustive Textbook Talmey 1919.pdf/17

 d'adopter en principe l'Esperanto. . . sous la réserve de certaines modifications. . . à exécuter. . . dans le sens défini. . . par le projet de Ido." Esperanto, accordingly, was to be modified in conformity with this project, not inversely. Any other modern artificial language modified in this sense would have given the same result. Only a few more modifications would have been required. For the modern artificial languages resemble each other a good deal. The view, therefore, that the new language represents simplified Esperanto, has to be taken cum grano salis. At the present day after further deterioration of Esperanto on one side, and considerable further improvement of the new language through its academy on the other side, the difference between the two is very great, so that that view cannot at all be maintained any longer.

During the negotiations aiming at an understanding with the Esperanto Committee and for quite some time after they had been broken off, the new language was officially known under the name International Language of the Delegation. For about two years the name Ilo, constructed from the letters I and L of the term International Language, was favored by many and frequently used by writers. Several other names were proposed. But finally the pseudonym Ido of Mr. de Beaufront was adopted by the Committee of the Union of Idists (II, 288) and found general acceptance as the name of the new language.

Already from the beginning Ido was far superior to any artificial language ever devised. Through the painstaking strictly scientific work of the academy during the past seven years and through its liberal policy of inviting and considering every criticism, important changes and additions, notably in the vocabulary, have been made whereby Ido has attained a still higher degree of perfection. Recently the academy has decreed a period of stability of ten years during which no further changes are to be made. It may safely be stated that only very few will be required after the lapse of this period. The construction of Ido is thus completed and authors of text books are now enabled to offer to students work of lasting value.

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