Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 16.pdf/756

 Editorial Department avoided. Most of those who have studied the subject styled "universal language" (and amongst them are the illustrious philoso phers and scholars, Bacon, Descartes, Leib nitz, Locke, Bishop Wilkins Jacob Grimm and Max Muller) are agreed that, in order to be successful any secondary or auxiliary language must be neutral. This condition is fulfilled by Esperanto, the word-material of which is, to a large extent, international. It is said that there are 29,000 words which have the same spelling and meaning in French and English. This principle of internationality has been seized upon by Dr. Xanienhof. who has reduced the national varations to a common denominator, so to speak, and at one stroke made a vast num ber of international words common property. The student of Esperanto finds that he knows much of it before he begins to learn it. His memory is not burdened with a host of new words. In the case of frequently-used, every-day words, where the greatest divergence in natural languages occurs. Dr. Zamenhof has selected those roots which possess the greatest internationality. By ingenious artifices, the result of years of patient labor, he suggests, either to the ear or to the eye, the original form of the national word of the widest currency. His first book contains a list of about 900 root-words, sufficient to express all ordinary ideas. Those who have an elementary knowledge of Latin and French recognize, either by sight or sound, threequarters of these roots, leaving only some 225 words to be memorized. A larger selection of 2600 root-words, the greater part of which is already terra cognita to educated persons, furnishes the advanced student with a full equipment. Dr. Zam enhof has intrpduced some 30 affixes, the object of which is to relieve the memory of the burden of whole classes of words; for instance, mal signifies the contrary, and so, knowing vanna (hot), the student has not to learn the word for cold (malvarmd), and, knowing alta (high), he knows its contrary, low, etc. Each part of speech has. a dis

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tinctive termination; thus, from bankrot, the root-word for the idea of bankruptcy, bankrott), (a bankruptcy), bankrota (bankrupt, adj.), bankrotc (bankrupt, adv.), and bankrott (to become bankrupt) are immediately ob tained. (The word for "a bankrupt" would be bankrotulo, the termination nlo denoting a person remarkable for the quality indicated by the root-word.) By such devices and the combination of root-words, an extensive vocabulary is created with a minimum of effort. Whilst permitting palpable meta phor, Esperanto has the advantage of being without any unintelligible idiomatic idiosyn crasies. Cheap instruction-books have ap peared in 22 languages, and one for the Japanese is awaiting publication. It is pos sible to write in Esperanto to a person who has no previous acquaintance of it. inclosing in the letter a sixpenny instruction-book in the addressee's mother-tongue, confidently anticipating that the recipient will be able to read the letter with little difficulty. It will be seen that the simplicity and easiness of Esperanto so nearly approach the ideal that there is scarcely any cause to fear that a future invention will appreciably improve upon it. ... How will it prove of service to the lawyer? ... In those departments of law which arc not confined to territorial limits, such as jurprudence: international. Roman, civil, and ancient law; legal history and medical juris prudence; and, to a less extent, maritime law, commercial law, and the laws of extra dition, naturalization, and patents, legal works might be published in Esperanto, and in no other language, with benefit both to the authors and the purchasers, because the circulation would be enormously increased. For such a purpose. Esperanto would fill the part played by Latin in the preReformation days. . . . But Esperanto will be of greater service to the lawyer who has occasion to bring an action in a foreign country, to transact business relating to the acquisition or dis posal of foreign property, marriage settle ments between parties of different nation