English-Esperanto Dictionary

Excerpt

In response to numerous requests from almost every country in which English is spoken, we have much pleasure in presenting to the public this the first English-Esperanto Dictionary. The demands for such a work became so pressing that it was absolutely necessary to issue it as quickly as possible. Were it not for this urgency we would have waited until the larger Dictionary was ready, but the knowledge that the progress of Esperanto would be materially checked or retarded decided us to issue this smaller one. The compiling of a Dictionary is always a difficult task, but the difficulty is increased in a very great degree when an initial and original work is undertaken. Such a work demands careful and thorough research, absolute precision, and much patient labour. The labour, however, has been lightened by the good wishes of Esperantists all the world over. Not from England alone, but from that Greater Britain beyond the seas, kindly help has been offered, and gratefully accepted. We have spared no pains in the endeavour to make this Dictionary (within its limits) perfect, and we hope we have succeeded. The busy Briton, who has not time for word-building, will find within the following pages every ordinary English word, with its Esperanto equivalent. It has been said, and with truth, that with a perfect knowledge of one or two thousand words anyone can adequately express oneself—conversationally—on any of the ordinary topics of everyday life, and for this reason we have taken special pains to select those words which are most in use. The student who possesses a knowledge of the process of word-building can from the material within these pages extend such material to an almost unlimited extent. (For an example of this see pages 10-15).