Ch 25 · Lesson 9Esperanto · Chapter 25 · Lesson 9 · Grammar primer
Science in Esperanto: the register that almost won
The 1922 League of Nations report and its missing vocabularies, Eugen Wüster's road from an Esperanto dictionary to terminology science, and what you can read today.
The short version
The dictionary-maker who invented a science
terminologio -
Why?Hide
Eugen Wüster compiled an Esperanto-German dictionary as a student, between 1918 and 1920, and his later work on technical vocabulary founded modern terminology science: he ran the ISO terminology committee's secretariat from 1951 and started Infoterm in 1971. He also coined the words esperantologio and .
The 1922 report
In 1922 the League of Nations adopted a report on Esperanto. It was friendly, and it was candid about the gap:
What it still lacks is technical vocabularies for several important sciences. There already exist Esperanto vocabularies for chemistry, pharmaceutics, mechanics, navigation and botany, but there are not any for electricity, physics and geology. The Esperanto Academy should have these vocabularies prepared at once. The lack of financial resources seems to have been the chief cause of this delay.
The same report records the petition that later accounts inflate:
A petition was presented in 1921 by 25 members of the French Academy of Science asking that Esperanto should be taught in technical schools.
That is a petition about teaching in technical schools, not a call for Esperanto as the language of science.
1904Internacia Scienca Revuo founded
1906ISAE, the scientific association
1922the League of Nations report
1949Scienca Revuo begins
2015Scienca Revuo stops
Wüster and terminology science
Eugen Wüster (1898 to 1977) compiled a large Esperanto-German dictionary as a student, between 1918 and 1920. His later work on standardising technical vocabulary made him the founder of modern terminology science:
| Year | What Wüster did |
|---|---|
| 1931 | published his book on technical language standards |
| 1951 | took over the ISO terminology committee's secretariat |
| 1971 | started Infoterm, the terminology centre |
He also coined two words the movement still uses: esperantologio, the study of Esperanto, and , a planned language. Esperanto did not become the language of science; one of its dictionary-makers organised how science names things.
What you can read today
Popular science, yes; original research, essentially no.
| Source | What it is | Alive? |
|---|---|---|
| monthly magazine, Antwerp, since 1980 | yes: science column |
Vikipedio | the Wikipedia | yes |
| the scientific association's journal | no: since 2015 |
2015.- The journal has not appeared since 2015.
For a learner, and Vikipedio are the reading list: plain, factual prose on every subject. The Esperanto today article has the wider picture.
Going further: Rule 15: import whole, then derive and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
Practice
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