The Washington herald., 1910-09-05
"HOtehpOteh0 in Language.
- - Washington -:

Editor TIE Washington Herald:
Referring 10 Prof G. G. Rivot's com
ments on Esperanto in your issue Of
last Monday, permit one who was also
caught fl the wave OF folly on which
Noiapuk rolled IN upon our coast twenty
five years ago. 70 say a word in justi-
ication OF the present HETEROGENEOUS
jargon-formedA OF shreds Of languages. "
little examination. a little reflection
Will show that this Characterization is
not far from the facts and that IL fits
our well beloved and highly efficient
English as wei as Esperanto.
Without fear OF contradiction I viii say
that English is a hotchpotch Of Latin.
French, Saxon, Scandinavian. Greek. &C.
together with a rude basis OF several
native British dialects; and how rich.
full, flexible and expressive il is in con
sequence! So with Esperanto. The dif-
ference being that whereas English grew
Up a heterogeneous Jargon in haphazard
fashion, with many crudities Of spelling
and grammar for evolution 10 wear
away, If IL can. the Esperanto vocabu-
larry and grammar were systematically
chosen and evolved by a stroke Of
genius.
This 'jargon formed Of shreds Of Ian
guages'' is made up Of mighty good
shreds. for they are the very root words
most commonly current in the great Ian
guages Of England. France. GERMANY.
Italy Spain, &c. There are almost no
Slavic roots, the bulk being Teutonic and
Latino or Romance. And therein it
bears strong similarity 10 English. IN
deed, il IS true that the English student
will meet in Esperanto about sixty
familiar root words IN each 100: \ Ger
man, over 40 per cent: a Frenchraan.
italian, or Spaniard. nearly 20 per cent
all because Of the 'hotchpotch" principle
of selection exercised by Dr. Zamenhof.
truly flash OF genius,
How crude the first English version
OF the Bible must have seemed 10 The
linguistic arbiter elegantIarum and his
set in England, to whom French and
Latin were the only insignia Of culture,
The critics OF Prof. Ribots type can best
sympathize with them as they gaze with
a sort Of fascinated horror upon this
latest hotchpOtch. forgetting that in their
day the brilliant and versatile French.
the stately and sODOroUs Spanish. the
idyllic and mellihuent Italian, ave and
heaven help US. even the noble and dom
inant Latin were all. each and several
evolved on the hotchpotch plan. Each
seemed a jargon TO the speakers Of pre-
viously evolved tongues, Of course; and
had there been any Max Mullers OF
Grims in those days, could not they have
seen through the ''shreds Of languages
II =
such "a collection of words. without
grace. without elegance without state
Illness. and without harmony" could never
succeed even as a spoken tongue not
TO mention literature?
The great American people IS a hotch-
potch Of English. German. Irish, Scotch.
Jewish, African, French.
and other stocks all Of these elements
having been hotchpotches in their day.
II really seems as II the Divine Archl-
tect rather preferred this as the best
plan Of evolution; IN fact II has come to
be almost an automatic principle in na-
,ure. ZamenhoFs Inspired vision was
the first 70 see and apply this in shaping
q neutral language which all may readily
and use without prejudice TO
-llCH HlOlueI tongue. ms IS only one or
Is many drawing powers. Possibly ev-
0lution may vet do things 70 Esperanto
IN the direction that we think spells I'm
just as IL did to English;
put kin it It hardly can, for Esperanto
S another great hotchpOtch
II Is one that the world citizen needs.
and what the world truly needs It gen.
srally gets or makes for itself. like the
signs and symbols Of mathematics. music.
medical prescriptions. International code
IF signals Arabic numerals Roman al
Dhabet. and the like.
Pure breeds are excellent In languages.
horses. dogs. and men. endOwing each
With a subtle quality and capacity of its
own. The great trouble is. however,
hat nature invariably interyenes and
starts a new breed ChOtchpotcm that
improves upon its predecessors. There
ore, T. for one. cry viva Zamenhof."
ong live the hotcbpotch! both abstract
md concrete. for one cannot get along
'l'nOuI then- r. L LERCH.