L. L. Zamenhof: Difference between revisions

Zamenhof was born into a Jewish family on 15 December 1859 in [[Białystok]],{{efn|name=fn1}} the son of [[Mark Zamenhof]] and [[:eo:Rozalia Zamenhof|Rozalia Zamenhof]] ({{nee|Sofer}}). The family lived at number 6 Zielona Street.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.culturepolonaise.eu/3,2,765,en,100th_anniversary_of_the_death_of_L_ZAMENHOF_the_creator_of_the_Esperanto | title=100th anniversary of the death of L. ZAMENHOF, the creator of the Esperanto | access-date=10 October 2019 | archive-date=10 October 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010160515/http://www.culturepolonaise.eu/3,2,765,en,100th_anniversary_of_the_death_of_L_ZAMENHOF_the_creator_of_the_Esperanto | url-status=dead }}</ref> At that time, the city was in the [[Grodno Governorate]] of the [[Russian Empire]] as a result of the 1807 [[Treaties of Tilsit]]. His parents were of [[Lithuanian Jews|Litvak Jewish]] descent. This group inhabited the former [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]]. He appears to have been natively bilingual in [[Yiddish]] and Russian.<ref name="Kiselman">{{cite book | url=http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf | title=Esperanto: Its Origins and Early History | publisher=[[Polish Academy of Learning]] | work=Prace Komisji Spraw Europejskich PAU. Tom II, pp. 39–56 | year=2008 | access-date=15 December 2014 | author=Christer Kiselman | page=2 | quote=What was his first language? He wrote in a letter in 1901 that his "parental language" (mother tongue) was Russian, but that at the time he was speaking more in Polish (Zamenhof 1929:523). However, all other evidence points to Yiddish as his mother tongue and first language. }}</ref> His father was a teacher of German and French. From him, Zamenhof learned German, French and [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]. He also spoke some major languages of Białystok: [[Polish language|Polish]], Yiddish, [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], and German. Polish became the native language of his children in [[Warsaw]]. In school, he studied the classical languages Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]. He later learned some English, though in his own words not very well. He had an interest in Lithuanian and Italian and learned [[Volapük]] when it came out in 1880. By that time, his international language project was already well developed.<ref>Christer Kiselman, [http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf "Esperanto: Its origins and early history"], in Andrzej Pelczar, ed., 2008, ''Prace Komisji Spraw Europejskich PAU'', vol. II, pp. 39–56, Krakaw.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |author=Claude Piron |title=Kontribuaĵo al la studo pri la influoj de la jida sur Esperanton |journal=Jewish Language Review |volume=4 |year=1984 |url=http://user.in-berlin.de/~maxnet/esperanto/piron/jida.htm}}</ref>