L. L. Zamenhof

File:LL Zamenhof birth certificate.jpg

File:1905-uk-z-m.jpg

Zamenhof came from a multilingual area. His name is transliterated as follows:

• English: Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof – English pronunciation: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|z|æ|m|ə|n|h|ɒ|f|,_|ˈ|z|æ|m|ɪ|n|h|ɒ|f|,_|-|n|ɒ|v|,_|-|n|ɒ|f}}
• Esperanto: {{lang|eo|Ludoviko Lazaro Zamenhof}} – {{IPA|eo|ludoˈviko laˈzaro zamenˈhof|pron}}
• French: {{lang|fr|Louis Lazare Zamenhof}} – {{IPA|fr|lwi la.zaʁ za.mɛn.of|pron}}
• German: {{lang|de|Ludwig (Levi) Lazarus Zamenhof}} – {{IPA|de|ˈluːtvɪç ˈlaːtsaʁʊs ˈt͡saːmənhoːf|pron}}
• {{langx|he|אליעזר (לודוויג) זמנהוף|Eli'ezer Ludvig Zamenhof}} – {{IPA|he|eliˈ(ʕ)ezeʁ ˈludvig ˈzamenhof|pron}}
• Lithuanian: {{lang|lt|Liudvikas Lazaris (Leizeris) Zamenhofas}}
• Polish: {{lang|pl|Ludwik Łazarz Zamenhof}} – {{IPA|pl|ˈludvʲik ˈwazaʐ zaˈmɛnxɔf|pron}}
• {{langx|ru|Людвик Лазарь (Лейзер) Маркович Заменгоф|Lyudvik Lazar' (Leyzer) Markovich Zamengof}}
• {{langx|be|Людвіг Лазар Маркавіч Заменгоф (Заменгоў)|Liudvih Lazar Markavič Zamienhof (Zamienhoŭ)}}
• {{langx|yi|לײזער לוי זאַמענהאָף|Leyzer Leyvi Zamenhof}}

Born into an Ashkenazi family, at his birth Zamenhof was given the common Hebrew name Eliezer by his parents, which is translated into English as Lazarus. However, as the area was a part of the Russian Empire at the time, his name was recorded on his birth certificate as {{langx|ru|Лейзер Заменгов|Leyzer Zamengov|label=none}}, using the Yiddish form of the forename and a russified version of his surname;[http://www.bialystok.ap.gov.pl/bit/50lat/boznicze_zamenhof1.jpg Birth Certificate N 47: "Leyzer Zamengov, son of Mordkha Fayvelovich Zamengov and Liba Sholemovna Sofer"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722014023/http://www.bialystok.ap.gov.pl/bit/50lat/boznicze_zamenhof1.jpg |date=22 July 2011 }} many later Russian language documents also include the patronymic {{langx|ru|Маркович|Markovich|label=none}} « son of Mark » (in reference to his father, Markus), as is the custom in the language. His family name is of German origin and was originally written Samenhof; this was later transcribed into Yiddish as {{lang|yi|זאַמענהאָף}}, then re-romanized back as Zamenhof. The change of the initial letter from « S » to « Z » is not unusual, as in German an initial « s » is pronounced {{IPA|de|z|}}.

In his adolescence, he used both the Yiddish Leyzer and the Russian Lazar when writing his first name. While at university, Zamenhof began using the Russian name Lyudovik (also transcribed Ludovic or translated as Ludwig) in place of Lazar, possibly in honour of Francis Lodwick, who in 1652 had published an early conlang proposal.{{cite book |last=Umberto Eco & James Fentress |title=The Search for the Perfect Language |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |page=[https://archive.org/details/searchforperfect00ecou/page/324 324] |date=9 September 1995 |isbn=978-0-631-17465-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/searchforperfect00ecou/page/324 }} When his brother Leon became a doctor and started signing his name "Dr L. Zamenhof",{{cite journal |last1=Wincewicz |first1=Andrzej |last2=Sulkowska |first2=Mariola |last3=Musiatowicz |first3=Marcin |last4=Sulkowski |first4=Stanislaw |date=June 2009 |title=Laryngologist Leon Zamenhof—brother of Dr. Esperanto |journal=American Journal of Audiology |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=3–6 |issn=1059-0889 |pmid=18978199 |doi=10.1044/1059-0889(2008/08-0002) }} Zamenhof reclaimed his birth name Lazar and from 1901 signed his name "Dr L. L. Zamenhof" to avoid confusion with his brother. The two L's do not seem to have specifically represented either name and the order Ludwik Lejzer is a modern convention.

File:Zamenhof-1879.jpg

Zamenhof was born on 15 December 1859,{{efn|name=fn1}} the son of Mark and Rozalia Zamenhof ({{nee|Sofer}}), in the multi-ethnic city of Belostok{{cite web |first=James R. |last=Russell |author-link=James R. Russell |date=8 February 2022 |title=Did Esperanto answer the 'Jewish Question'? |url=https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-695810 |website=The Jerusalem Post |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209080042/https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-695810 |archive-date=9 February 2022 |url-status=live |quote=Leyzer (Eliezer) Levi Zamenhof was born in 1859 into a Jewish family in Belostok, a provincial city in the Russian Empire, now Bialystok, Poland. }} (now Białystok in Poland).{{Cite web |title=100th anniversary of the death of L. ZAMENHOF, the creator of the Esperanto |url=http://www.culturepolonaise.eu/3,2,765,en,100th_anniversary_of_the_death_of_L_ZAMENHOF_the_creator_of_the_Esperanto |url-status=dead |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 |archive-date=10 October 2019 |access-date=10 October 2019 }}{{Cite book |last=Korzhenkov |first=Aleksander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C2WMcIE1svMC&q=L.L.+Zamenhof+Bio |title=Zamenhof: The Life, Works and Ideas of the Author of Esperanto |date=2010 |publisher=Mondial |isbn=978-1-59569-167-5 |pages=3 |language=en |quote=..born on December 15, 1859, into a Jewish family in what was then the Russian city of Bialystock... |access-date=6 November 2022 |archive-date=3 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231003053229/https://books.google.com/books?id=C2WMcIE1svMC&q=L.L.+Zamenhof+Bio |url-status=live }} At that time, the city was in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire. His parents were of Litvak descent. He appears to have been natively bilingual in Yiddish and Russian.{{cite book |author=Christer Kiselman |url=http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf |title=Esperanto: Its Origins and Early History |work=Prace Komisji Spraw Europejskich PAU. Tom II, pp. 39–56 |publisher=Polish Academy of Learning |year=2008 |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. He was born in Białystok on December 3, 1859 |access-date=15 December 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304222655/http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf |url-status=dead }} His father was a teacher of French and German. From him, Zamenhof learned both languages, as well as Hebrew. He also spoke some major languages of Białystok, such as Polish and Belarusian. Polish became the native language of his children in Warsaw. In school, he studied the classical languages Latin, Greek, and Aramaic. He later learned some English, though in his own words not very well. He had an interest in Italian and Lithuanian and learned Volapük when it came out in 1880. By that time, his international language project was already well-developed.Christer Kiselman, [http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf "Esperanto: Its origins and early history"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304222655/http://www2.math.uu.se/~kiselman/pau2008.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }}, in Andrzej Pelczar, ed., 2008, Prace Komisji Spraw Europejskich PAU, vol. II, pp. 39–56, Krakaw.{{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 |access-date=28 December 2008 |archive-date=11 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111024539/http://user.in-berlin.de/~maxnet/esperanto/piron/jida.htm |url-status=live }}

In addition to the Jewish Yiddish-speaking minority, the population of Białystok included Roman Catholic Poles and Eastern Orthodox Russians (mainly government officials), with smaller groups of Belarusians, Germans and other ethnicities. Zamenhof was saddened and frustrated by the many quarrels among these groups. He supposed that the main reason for the hate and prejudice lay in the mutual misunderstanding caused by the lack of a common language. If such a language existed, Zamenhof postulated, it could play the role of a neutral communication tool between people of different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.{{Cite web |url=http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/birth-ludwig-zamenhof-creator-esperanto |title=Birth of Ludwig Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto {{!}} History Today |website=www.historytoday.com |access-date=9 August 2017 |archive-date=10 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210041530/http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/birth-ludwig-zamenhof-creator-esperanto |url-status=live }}{{cite web |first=Steven G. |last=Kellman |author-link=Steven G. Kellman |date=30 August 2016 |title=The Secret Jewish History of Esperanto |url=https://forward.com/culture/348344/the-secret-jewish-history-of-esperanto/ |website=The Forward |access-date=9 February 2022 |archive-date=9 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209203844/https://forward.com/culture/348344/the-secret-jewish-history-of-esperanto/ |url-status=live }}

{{Esperanto sidebar |expanded=History}}

As a student at secondary school in Warsaw, Zamenhof attempted to create an international language with a grammar that was rich, but complex. When he later studied English, he decided that the international language must have simpler grammar. Apart from his parents' native languages Russian and Yiddish and his adopted language Polish, his projects were also aided by his mastery of German, a good passive understanding of Latin, Hebrew and French, and a basic knowledge of Greek, English and Italian.Holzhaus, Adolf: Doktoro kaj lingvo Esperanto. Helsinki: Fondumo Esperanto. 1969

By 1878, his project Lingwe uniwersala was finished.{{Cite book |title=Exploring the Possibilities for the Emergence of a Single and Global Native Language |last=Dufour |first=Fritz |publisher=Fritz Dufour |year=2017 |pages=93 }} However, Zamenhof was too young then to publish his work. Soon after graduation, he began to study medicine, first in Moscow, and later in Warsaw. In 1885, Zamenhof graduated from university and began his practice as a doctor in Veisiejai. After 1886, he worked as an ophthalmologist in Płock and Vienna. While healing people there, he continued to work on his project of an international language.{{cite web |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/birth-ludwig-zamenhof-creator-esperanto |title=Birth of Ludwig Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto |website=History Today |access-date=15 July 2019 |archive-date=26 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226172957/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/birth-ludwig-zamenhof-creator-esperanto |url-status=live }}

File:Unua Libro ru 1st ed.pdf

For two years, he tried to raise funds to publish a booklet describing the language, until he received financial help from his future wife's father. In 1887, the book titled Международный язык. Предисловие и полный учебникъ (International language: Introduction and complete textbook) was published in RussianKeith Brown and Sarah Ogilvie, Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World (Elsevier, 2009: {{ISBN|0-08-087774-5}}), p. 375. under the pseudonym "Doktoro Esperanto" (Doctor Hoper, or literally "Doctor One Who Hopes"). Zamenhof initially called his language "Lingvo internacia" (international language), but those who learned it began to call it Esperanto after his pseudonym, and this soon became the official name for the language. For Zamenhof, this language, far from being merely a communication tool, was a way to promote peaceful coexistence between people of different cultures.{{citation |title=Discouraging Words |magazine=Failure Magazine |date=20 July 2009 |first=Jason |last=Zasky |quote=But in terms of invented languages, it's the most outlandishly successful invented language ever. It has thousands of speakers—even native speakers—and that's a major accomplishment as compared to the 900 or so other languages that have no speakers. – Arika Okrent |url=http://failuremag.com/feature/article/discouraging_words/ |access-date=31 December 2013 |archive-date=23 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123202016/http://failuremag.com/feature/article/discouraging_words |url-status=dead }}

File:1910-Universo-p322-llzdet.jpg apartment, 1910]]

In 1879, Zamenhof wrote the first grammar of Yiddish. It was partly published years later in the Yiddish magazine {{lang|yi-Latn|Lebn un visnshaft}}.Vilnius, 1909; see Esperanto translation as {{lang|eo|Pri jida gramatiko kaj reformo en la jida}} (On Yiddish grammar and reform in Yiddish) in {{lang|eo|Hebreo el la geto: De cionismo al hilelismo}} (A Hebrew from the ghetto: From Zionism to Hillelism), {{lang|eo|Eldonejo Ludovikito}}, vol. 5, 1976 The complete original Russian text of this manuscript was only published in 1982, with parallel Esperanto translation by Adolf Holzhaus, in {{lang|eo|L. Zamenhof, provo de gramatiko de novjuda lingvo}} (An attempt at a grammar of neo-Jewish language), Helsinki, pp. 9–36. In this work, not only does he provide a review of Yiddish grammar, but also proposes its transition to the Latin script and other orthographic innovations. In the same period, Zamenhof wrote some other works in Yiddish, including perhaps the first survey of Yiddish poetics (see p. 50 in the above-cited book).

A wave of pogroms within the Russian Empire in 1882, including Congress Poland, motivated Zamenhof to take part in the Hibbat Zion, and to found a Zionist student society in Warsaw.{{cite journal |author=N. Z. Maimon |journal=Nica Literatura Revuo |issue=3/5 |date=May–June 1958 |title=La cionista periodo en la vivo de Zamenhof |pages=165–177 |url=http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/Literaturo/Revuoj/nlr/nlr35/cionistau.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719082100/http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/Literaturo/Revuoj/nlr/nlr35/cionistau.html |archive-date=19 July 2008 }} He left the movement following the publication of Unua Libro in 1887, and in 1901 published a statement in Russian with the title Hillelism, in which he argued that the Zionist project would fail due to Jews not having a common language.

In 1914, he declined an invitation to join a new organization of Jewish Esperantists, the TEHA. In his letter to the organizers, he said, "I am profoundly convinced that every nationalism offers humanity only the greatest unhappiness ... It is true that the nationalism of oppressed peoples – as a natural self-defensive reaction – is much more excusable than the nationalism of peoples who oppress; but, if the nationalism of the strong is ignoble, the nationalism of the weak is imprudent; both give birth to and support each other". The Hebrew Bible is among the many works that Zamenhof translated into Esperanto.

Zamenhof died in Warsaw on 14 April 1917,{{efn|name=fn1}} possibly of a heart attack,[http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/collections/esperanto/Planned_languages_Ludwig_Lazar_Zamenhof.htm "Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof – Founder of Esperanto"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924060531/http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/collections/esperanto/Planned_languages_Ludwig_Lazar_Zamenhof.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}, Department of Planned Languages. and was buried at the Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery. The farewell speech was delivered by the chief rabbi and preacher of the Great Synagogue in Warsaw, Samuel Abraham Poznański, who said: "There will be a time where the Polish soil and nation will understand what fame gave this great son of God to his homeland."{{cite web |url=http://www.szukamypolski.pl/rzeznia.php?id=22 |title=Mapa Polski, mapa Wrocławia, turystyka, wypoczynek - SzukamyPolski.pl |website=www.szukamypolski.pl |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630123854/http://www.szukamypolski.pl/rzeznia.php?id=22 |archive-date=30 June 2007 |url-status=dead }}

File:Ludwik Zamenhof speaking.ogg in Barcelona (Spain) in 1909]]

Zamenhof and his wife Klara Silbernik raised three children, a son, Adam, and two daughters, Zofia and Lidia. All three were murdered by the Nazis.{{cite book |title=Mind & Society Fads |first1=Frank W. |last1=Hoffmann |first2=William G. |last2=Bailey |year=1992 |publisher=Haworth Press |isbn=1-56024-178-0}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=AzFuFjFwVSYC&pg=PA116 p. 116] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230717041621/https://books.google.com/books?id=AzFuFjFwVSYC&pg=PA116 |date=17 July 2023 }}: "Between world wars, Esperanto fared worse and, sadly, became embroiled in political power moves. Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf that the spread of Esperanto throughout Europe was a Jewish plot to break down national differences so that Jews could assume positions of authority.... After the Nazis' successful Blitzkrieg of Poland, the Warsaw Gestapo received orders to 'take care' of the Zamenhof family.... Zamenhof's son was shot... his two daughters were put in Treblinka death camp."

Lidia Zamenhof in particular took a keen interest in Esperanto, and as an adult became a teacher of the language, travelling through Europe and to America to teach classes in it. Through her friendship with Martha Root, Lidia accepted Bahá'u'lláh and became a member of the Baháʼí Faith. As one of its social principles, the Baháʼí Faith teaches that an auxiliary world language should be selected by the representatives of all the world's nations.

Zamenhof's grandson, Louis-Christophe Zaleski-Zamenhof (Adam's son), lived in France from the 1960s until his death in 2019. As of 2020, Louis-Christophe's daughter, {{ill|Margaret Zaleski-Zamenhof|eo}}, is active in the Esperanto movement.

{{main|Homaranismo}}

File:Grób Ludwika Zamenhofa na cmentarzu żydowskim w Warszawie 2017.jpg and made of Aberdeen granite, Jewish Cemetery, Warsaw 2017]]

Besides his linguistic work, Zamenhof published a religious philosophy he called Homaranismo (the term in Esperanto, usually rendered as "humanitism" in English,[http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/9810/1/J-McElvenny2013.pdf Meaning in the Age of Modernism: C. K. Ogden and his contemporaries] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202120052/https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/9810/1/J-McElvenny2013.pdf |date=2 February 2017 }}, Thesis of James McElvenny, 2013 sometimes rendered loosely as humanitarianism or humanism), based on the principles and teachings of Hillel the Elder. He said of Homaranismo: "It is indeed the object of my whole life. I would give up everything for it."Edmond Privat, The Life of Zamenhof, {{p.|117}}.

In 1905, Zamenhof received the Légion d'honneur for creating Esperanto.{{cite web |title=3 россиянина, награждённые орденом Почётного легиона за необычные заслуги (3 Russians Awarded Légion d'honneur for Unusual Merits) |url=http://sobesednik.ru/incident/20130816-3-samykh-neobychnykh-nagrazhdeniya-rossiyan-ordenom-pochetnogo-legiona |publisher=Russian Daily "Sobesednik" |date=16 August 2013 |access-date=9 September 2014 |archive-date=18 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718102659/https://sobesednik.ru/obshchestvo/20130816-3-samykh-neobychnykh-nagrazhdeniya-rossiyan-ordenom-pochetnogo-legiona |url-status=live }} In 1910, Zamenhof was first nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, by four British Members of Parliament (including James O'Grady and Philip Snowden) and Professor Stanley Lane Poole.{{Cite web |date=1 April 2020 |title=Nomination archive |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=7918 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008101241/https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show.php?id=7918 |archive-date=8 October 2014 |access-date=9 October 2022 |website=NobelPrize.org |language=en-US }} (The Prize was instead awarded to the International Peace Bureau.) Ultimately Zamenhof was nominated 12 times for the Nobel Peace Prize.{{Cite web |url=https://www.franceinter.fr/societe/esperanto-cent-ans-mort-createur-zamenhof |title=Espéranto, la langue qui se voulait "universala" |date=14 April 2017 |website=France Inter |access-date=14 April 2017 |archive-date=17 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517002331/https://www.franceinter.fr/societe/esperanto-cent-ans-mort-createur-zamenhof |url-status=live }} On the occasion of the fifth Universala Kongreso de Esperanto in Barcelona, Zamenhof was made a Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic by King Alfonso XIII of Spain.{{Cite web |url=http://www.webislam.com/?idt=19050 |title=Olaizola, Borja. "Chatear en Esperanto, vigésimo idioma del mundo más usado en la red." El Correo. 30/03/2011. |access-date=7 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927020832/http://www.webislam.com/?idt=19050 |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}

File:Plaque in Geneva where L.L. Zamenhof lived in 1905.jpg, Switzerland in 1905]]

A monument or place linked to Zamenhof or Esperanto is known as a Zamenhof-Esperanto object (or ZEO).

The minor planet 1462 Zamenhof is named in his honour. It was discovered on 6 February 1938 by Yrjö Väisälä. There is also a minor planet named in honour of Esperanto (1421 Esperanto).

Hundreds of city streets, parks, and bridges worldwide have also been named after Zamenhof. In Lithuania, the best-known Zamenhof Street is in Kaunas, where he lived and owned a house for some time. There are others in Poland, the United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Spain (mostly in Catalonia), Italy, Israel, Belgium, the Netherlands and Brazil. There are Zamenhof Hills in Hungary and Brazil, and a Zamenhof Island in the Danube.[https://web.archive.org/web/20061209130727/http://www.esperanto-sat.info/article187.html Hommages au Dr Zamenhof, à l'espéranto et à ses pionniers].

File:Zamenhof st.jpg]]

In some Israeli cities, street signs identify Esperanto's creator and give his birth and death dates, but refer to him solely by his Jewish name Eliezer, his original birth name. Zamenhof is honoured as a deity by the Japanese religion Oomoto, which encourages the use of Esperanto among its followers. A genus of lichen has been named Zamenhofia in his honour,{{Cite web |url=http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/fungi/Zamenhofia_rosei/more_info.html |title=Zamenhofia rosei: Francis' lichen. Range, habitat, biology |access-date=28 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060506231625/http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/fungi/Zamenhofia_rosei/more_info.html |archive-date=6 May 2006 |url-status=dead }} as well as the species Heteroplacidium zamenhofianum.{{cite book |last1=Clauzade |first1=G. |last2=Roux |first2=C. |last3=Houmeau |first3=J.-M. |year=1985 |title=Likenoj de Okcidenta Europa. Ilustrita determinlibro |series=Bulletin de la Société Botanique du Centre-Ouest |publisher=Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan |volume=7 |page=823 |language=eo }}

Russian writer {{Wikidata fallback link|Q6612494}}, who lived in Odessa, together with {{Wikidata fallback link|Q17558007}}, founded a branch of the first official Esperanto society Esrero in Russia. In the years 1896–97 N. A. Borovko became its chairman. A monument to L. Zamenhof was installed in Odessa in an ordinary residential courtyard. Esperantist sculptor Nikolai Vasilyevich Blazhkov lived in this house, who in the early 1960s brought a sculptural portrait into the courtyard because the customs authorities did not allow the sculpture to be sent to the Esperanto Congress in Vienna.{{Cite web |url=https://www.odessitclub.org/index.php/novosti-i-publikatsii/2983-lyudvik-zamengof-oni-ostavili-sled-v-istorii-odessy |title=Ludwik Zamenhof. They left a mark in the history of Odessa |date=15 December 2019 |access-date=16 December 2019 |archive-date=1 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201141703/https://www.odessitclub.org/index.php/novosti-i-publikatsii/2983-lyudvik-zamengof-oni-ostavili-sled-v-istorii-odessy |url-status=live }}

A public square in Gothenburg, Sweden is named Esperantoplatsen, where a café named Zamenhof opened in 2018.{{cite news|url=https://www.gp.se/kultur/nytt-restaurangkomplex-pa-esperantoplatsen.3b1a4ba5-799e-44ef-b73c-00398541d25d|title=Nytt restaurangkomplex på Esperantoplatsen|work=Göteborgs-Posten|first=Francisco|last=Ramirez Franzén|date=1 April 2018|access-date=16 December 2024}}

File:Esperantoplatsen-Göteborg1.JPG]]

In Italy, a few streets are named after Esperanto, including Largo Esperanto in Pisa.{{Cite web |url=http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/fungi/Zamenhofia_rosei/more_info.html |title=Francis' lichen - Zamenhofia rosei: More Information - ARKive |access-date=28 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060506231625/http://www.arkive.org/species/ARK/fungi/Zamenhofia_rosei/more_info.html |archive-date=6 May 2006 |url-status=dead}}.

In 1959, UNESCO honoured Zamenhof on the occasion of his centenary.Jewish Telegraphic Agency: [http://www.jta.org/1959/12/16/archive/unesco-to-honor-memory-of-zamenhof-jewish-creator-of-esperanto UNESCO to Honor Memory of Zamenhof, Jewish Creator of Esperanto] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004040335/https://www.jta.org/1959/12/16/archive/unesco-to-honor-memory-of-zamenhof-jewish-creator-of-esperanto |date=4 October 2019 }}, 16 December 1959 In 2015, it decided to support the celebration of the 100th anniversary of his death.[http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002352/235205e.pdf Unesco] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414200421/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002352/235205e.pdf |date=14 April 2017 }}; [http://uea.org/aktuale/komunikoj/2015/Gxenerala-Konferenco-de-Unesko-finigxis-%E2%80%93-Zamenhof-omagxota UEA: Zamenhof omaĝota] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515165017/https://uea.org/aktuale/komunikoj/2015/Gxenerala-Konferenco-de-Unesko-finigxis-%E2%80%93-Zamenhof-omagxota |date=15 May 2021 }}

His birthday, 15 December, is celebrated annually as Zamenhof Day by users of Esperanto. On 15 December 2009, Esperanto's green-starred flag flew on the Google homepage to commemorate Zamenhof's 150th birthday.[https://doodles.google/doodle/150th-birthday-of-ll-zamenhof/ Google Doodles Archive: 150th Birthday of LL Zamenhof] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240425205328/https://doodles.google/doodle/150th-birthday-of-ll-zamenhof/ |date=25 April 2024 }} Retrieved 1 April 2010.

The house of the Zamenhof family and a monument to Zamenhof are sites on the Jewish Heritage Trail in Białystok, which was opened in June 2008 by volunteers at The University of Białystok Foundation.[http://szlak.uwb.edu.pl/sites.html Jewish Heritage Trail in Białystok] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191229153645/http://szlak.uwb.edu.pl/sites.html |date=29 December 2019 }} accessed 25 July 2009. Białystok is also home to the Ludwik Zamenhof Centre.{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/esperanto-alive-and-well-100-years-after-jewish-inventors-death/|title=Esperanto alive and well, 100 years after Jewish inventor’s death|work=The Times of Israel|first=Bernard|last=Osser|date=13 April 2017|access-date=16 December 2024}}

In 1960, Esperanto summer schools were established in Stoke-on-Trent in the United Kingdom by the Esperanto Association of Britain (EAB), which began to provide lessons and promote the language locally. There is a road named after Zamenhof in the city: Zamenhof Grove.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/06/saluton-the-surprise-return-of-esperanto |title='Saluton!': the surprise return of Esperanto |last=Salisbury |first=Josh |date=6 December 2017 |work=The Guardian |access-date=19 December 2018 |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=28 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228193216/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/dec/06/saluton-the-surprise-return-of-esperanto |url-status=live }}

As Zamenhof was born on 15 December 1859, the Esperanto Society of New York gathers every December to celebrate Zamenhofa Tago (Zamenhof Day in Esperanto).{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/nyregion/esperanto-nyc.html |title=Feliĉa Ferioj! Toasting the Holidays in Esperanto |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |date=21 December 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=24 December 2018 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=9 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409133052/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/nyregion/esperanto-nyc.html |url-status=live }}

• Unua Libro, 1887 (First Book)
• Dua Libro, 1888 (Second Book)
• [http://www.esperanto.mv.ru/Hilelismo/index_e.html Hilelismo – propono pri solvo de la hebrea demando] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190320210954/http://www.esperanto.mv.ru/Hilelismo/index_e.html |date=20 March 2019 }}, 1901 (Hillelism: A Project in Response to the Jewish Question)
• [http://joaojosesantos.net/html/pdf/zamenhofo_esenco_kaj_estonteco_de_la_lingvo_internacia.pdf Esenco kaj estonteco de la ideo de lingvo internacia] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180413043307/http://joaojosesantos.net/html/pdf/zamenhofo_esenco_kaj_estonteco_de_la_lingvo_internacia.pdf |date=13 April 2018 }}, 1903 (Essence and Future of the Idea of an International Language)
• [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8224/8224-h/8224-h.htm Fundamenta Krestomatio de la Lingvo Esperanto] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200304131403/https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8224/8224-h/8224-h.htm |date=4 March 2020 }}, 1903 (Basic Anthology of the Esperanto Language)
• Fundamento de Esperanto, 1905 (Foundation of Esperanto)
• Declaration of Boulogne, 1905
• [http://homarano.narod.ru/Windows/homar_e.htm Homaranismo] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505134847/http://homarano.narod.ru/Windows/homar_e.htm |date=5 May 2021 }}, 1913 (Humanitism)

• La Esperantisto, 1889–1895 (The Esperantist)
• Lingvo Internacia, 1895–1914 (International Language)
• La Revuo, 1906–1914 (The Review)

• "Al la fratoj" ("To the Brothers"){{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26359/26359-h/26359-h.htm |title=Vivo de Zamenhof |first=Edmond |last=Privat |year=1920 |language=eo |chapter=Idealista profeto |access-date=12 April 2018 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019122424/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26359/26359-h/26359-h.htm |url-status=live }}
• "Ho, mia kor'" ("Oh, My Heart")
• "La Espero" ("The Hope")
• "La vojo" ("The Way"){{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26359/26359-h/26359-h.htm |title=Vivo de Zamenhof |first=Edmond |last=Privat |year=1920 |language=eo |chapter=Verkisto |access-date=12 April 2018 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019122424/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26359/26359-h/26359-h.htm |url-status=live }}
• "Mia penso" ("My Thought"){{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26359/26359-h/26359-h.htm |title=Vivo de Zamenhof |first=Edmond |last=Privat |year=1920 |language=eo |chapter=Studentaj jaroj |access-date=12 April 2018 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019122424/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26359/26359-h/26359-h.htm |url-status=live }}

• [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37279 Hamleto, Reĝido de Danujo] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429231725/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37279 |date=29 April 2021 }}, 1894 (Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare)
• [http://esperanto.davidgsimpson.com/inko/100-3.pdf La batalo de l' vivo] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925003458/http://esperanto.davidgsimpson.com/inko/100-3.pdf |date=25 September 2020 }} (The Battle of Life, by Charles Dickens)
• La revizoro, 1907 (The Government Inspector, by Nikolai Gogol)
• La Predikanto, 1907 (translation of Ecclesiastes)
• La Psalmaro, 1908 (translation of the book of Psalms)
• [http://steloj.de/esperanto/rabistoj/index.html La rabistoj] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200222070911/http://www.steloj.de/esperanto/rabistoj/index.html |date=22 February 2020 }}, 1908 (The Robbers, by Friedrich Schiller)
• [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22592 Ifigenio en Taŭrido] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429192820/https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22592 |date=29 April 2021 }}, 1908 (Iphigenia in Tauris, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
• La Rabeno de Baĥaraĥ, 1909 ("The Rabbi of Bacharach", by Heinrich Heine)
• La Gimnazio, 1909 ("The High School", by Scholem Aleichem)
• [http://www.ipernity.com/doc/esperanto-muzeo-svitavy/40592976 Marta] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214213855/http://www.ipernity.com/doc/esperanto-muzeo-svitavy/40592976 |date=14 December 2019 }}, 1910 (Marta, by Eliza Orzeszkowa)
• Genezo, 1911 (translation of the Book of Genesis)
• Eliro, 1912 (translation of the Book of Exodus)
• Levidoj, 1912 (translation of the Book of Leviticus)
• Nombroj, 1914 (translation of the Book of Numbers)
• Readmono, 1914 (translation of the Book of Deuteronomy)
• Malnova Testamento (parts of the Old Testament)

• Adam Zamenhof
• List of Poles
• Zamenhof Day

{{notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=fn1|In the Julian calendar, Zamenhof's birth and death dates are 3 December 1859 and 1 April 1917.}}

{{efn|name=fn2|For more information on Zamenhof's name, see Name.}}

}}

{{reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{Cite book |last=Boulton |first=Marjorie |author-link=Marjorie Boulton |title=Zamenhof: Creator of Esperanto |year=1960 |publisher=Routledge and Paul |ref=none}}
• {{Cite book |last=Forster |first=Peter G. |author-link=:eo:Peter Glover Forster |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tbgfAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 |title=The Esperanto Movement |year=2013 |publisher=De Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-082456-8 |ref=none}}
• {{Cite book |last=Privat |first=Edmond |url=http://archive.org/details/lifeofzamenhof0000priv |title=The life of Zamenhof |year=1920 |edition=1980 |publisher=Esperanto Press |via=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-919186-08-8 |translator-first=Ralph |author-link=Edmond Privat |translator-last=Eliott |ref=none}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Korĵenkov |first1=Aleksander |author-link=:eo:Aleksander Korĵenkov |title=Zamenhof: the life, works and ideas of the author of Esperanto |last2=Tonkin |first2=Humphrey |author-link2=Humphrey Tonkin |date=2010 |publisher=Mondial |isbn=978-1-59569-167-5 |translator-last=Richmond |translator-first=Ian M. |url=http://www.esperantic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LLZ-Bio-En.pdf |ref=none |access-date=19 February 2021 |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411003347/http://www.esperantic.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/LLZ-Bio-En.pdf |url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book |last=Schor |first=Esther |author-link=Esther Schor |title=Bridge of Words |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-8050-9079-6 |title-link=Bridge of Words |publisher=Metropolitan |ref=none}}

{{refend}}

• {{Gutenberg author |id=3934}}
• {{Librivox author |id=976}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ludwik Lazarus Zamenhof}}

{{Sister bar|auto=1|wikt=Zamenhofian}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zamenhof, L. L.}}

Category:1859 births

Category:1917 deaths

Category:19th-century translators

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Bible translators

Category:Commanders of the Order of Isabella the Catholic

Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour

Category:Constructed language creators

Category:Esperanto history

Category:Esperanto literature

Category:Jewish Esperantists

Category:Linguists of Yiddish

Category:Inventors from the Russian Empire

Category:Jews from the Russian Empire

Category:Linguists from Poland

Category:People from Belostoksky Uyezd

Category:People from Białystok

Category:Polish Esperantists

Category:Polish inventors

Category:Polish Ashkenazi Jews

Category:Polish ophthalmologists

Category:Translators of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Category:Translators to Esperanto

Category:Translators of William Shakespeare

Category:University of Warsaw alumni