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Definition 2024


Esperantism

Esperantism

English

Noun

Esperantism (plural Esperantisms)

  1. A feature or affectation of Esperanto.
    • 1922, Albert Léon Guérard, A Short History of the International Language Movement (T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd.), page 160
      The international language idea would suffer a long eclipse; and when it emerged again, it would be in a form totally free from “Esperantisms” — most probably in the form of simplified Latin.
    • 1993, Pierre Janton [aut.], Humphrey Tonkin [ed., tr.], Jane Edwards [tr.], and Karen Johnson-Weiner [tr.], Esperanto: Language, Literature, and Community (Albany: State University of New York Press; ISBN 0791412539, 0791412547), chapter 4: “Expression”, page 87
      We are dealing here not with a poetic convention but with a fundamental characteristic of the language — a characteristic further illustrated in the ability to use grammatical morphemes as lexical units, thereby enriching the vocabulary with a whole series of lexemes derived from essentially grammatical devices: ano = membro, aĵo = objekto, aro = grupo, ejo = loko, eta = malgranda, ege = multe, ene = interne, and so on. These can be considered as authentic Esperantisms — as can constructions which in a sense move in the opposite direction: suni, furiozi, fervori, malĉasti, ebli, and others.