Abram Kofman | |
---|---|
Native name | Авраам Кофман |
Born | 1865 Odesa, Russian Empire |
Died | c. 1940 (aged 74–75) |
Occupation | Bookkeeper, Esperantist, poet |
Language | Esperanto, Russian, Ido, Occidental |
Abram Antoni Kofman ( Russian: Авраам Кофман; 1865– c. 1940), also known as Abraham S. Kofman, was a Russian Esperanto–language poet. Born in Odesa, Kofman was an early supporter of Esperanto, and one of the first Russian Jews to be so, learning the language in 1889. Kofman was a high-profile member of the first school of Esperanto literature, and had his work featured in the first anthologies of Esperanto poetry. He was responsible for translations of several sections of the Hebrew Bible in both Esperanto and its daughter language, Ido. Kofman also influenced the development of the international religion Hillelism by the creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof in 1901. Eventually switching languages from Esperanto to Ido, and later Occidental, Kofman purportedly died during aerial bombing in Odesa.
Kofman was born in Odesa, Russian Empire, in 1865, [1] working professionally as a bookkeeper. [2] He learnt the international auxiliary language Esperanto in 1889. [3] Ric Berger names him the first in Russia to promote Esperanto; [4] he was one of the first Esperantist Russian Jews [5] and one of 51 Jewish Esperantists in Odesa by 1902. [6]
Under the First Period of Esperanto literature, [7] Kofman was a member of a school of thought called the "Slav School" by Esperanto literature scholar Geoffrey Sutton [2] or the "Slavia" by Nikolaos Trunte. [8] This was the first main school of Esperanto literature and existed from 1916 to 1920. It was divided into two generations: Kofman was a member of the first, alongside authors such as Vasilij Devjatnin , Leo Belmont , and Zamenhof's brother Felix Zamenhof ; [9] several members of this group, including Kofman, collaborated on Zamenhof's 1903 anthology Fundamenta Krestomatio . [8] Characteristic of this group was a desire for stylistic freedom [10] – in the 1933 Enciklopedio de Esperanto, Julio Baghy described Kofman as an artistic translator, writing: [1]
Kofman wrote both original material as well as translations for several Esperanto periodicals, such as Lingvo Internacia. Kofman wrote in a variety of genres, including satirical epigrams; one of Kofman's short stories was featured in Louis de Beaufront's magazine L'Espérantiste . [2] He additionally collaborated with Bohema Esperantisto . [11] Kofman also featured in the first anthology of Esperanto poetry, La liro de la Esperantistoj, edited by Antoni Grabowski. [9] In 1896, he planned to publish a collection of poems [1] entitled Voices of People (Voĉoj de Popoloj) in eighteen languages, although this was never published. [12] For the texts in Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Japanese, and Mordvin, he asked for assistance from the Finnish Esperantist Gustaf John Ramstedt, [12] although Ramstedt could not speak Japanese. [13] In an open letter in the magazine Lingvo Internacia, Kofman stated that he hoped to eventually have 35-50 languages including: [14]
Kofman was the first Ancient Greek–Esperanto translator, translating Homer's Iliad between 1895 and 1897 as Iliado. [2] He was part of a team of Jewish translators in Odesa responsible for a translation of the Old Testament into Esperanto; Kofman also translated the Old Testament into Ido, alongside Esperanto translations of the Book of Esther and the Book of Ruth (in 1893). [15] In 1902 during the Second World Esperanto Congress, Kofman was elected by the Lingva Komitato (Language Committee) to a commission that corrected errors in the " Universala Vortaro" ("Universal Dictionary") of the Fundamento de Esperanto. [16]
Kofman was a close friend of L. L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, [12] who communicated with Kofman regarding his ideas for Judaism. On 28 May 1901, Zamenhof sent Kofman a letter about his plans for Hillelism (Hilelismo), his planned version of Judaism that would form an international religion. This included the manuscript form of a brochure for the religion, that Zamenhof would publish later in 1901. Kofman did not read the full brochure, and responded with a letter of disgust, viewing the introduction of a philosophy such as Hillelism dangerous to the reputation of the Esperanto movement; [17] Zamenhof had wanted to use Esperanto as a "neutral language" in the religion. [18] Kofman was one of a number of educated Jews among which Zamenhof allowed the brochure to circulate [19] – he received an overall negative response, particularly from Esperantists in Poland and France. [17]
Nia linguo, per sa konstanta [ sic] devlopo, divenas sempre plu richa, do sempre plu apta a literatural uzado.
Our language, by its constant development, will become ever richer, thus ever more apt for literary use.
Abram Kofman, November 1910 in La Belga Sonorilo [20]
Although in 1894, Kofman was one of 157 Esperantists who voted against a reform of Esperanto, [21] in 1907, he changed languages from Esperanto to the Ido; this had been introduced by a proposition from the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language, and around a tenth of Esperantists would switch alongside him. [1] He would later change to Edgar de Wahl's Occidental. [1] Author of a later-destroyed manuscript of a Russian-Occidental dictionary, [4] he also translated poetry into Occidental – a translation of a poem by Ivan Krylov by Kofman appeared in an edition of the magazine International magazine of stenography (Occidental: Revúe internationale de sténographie). [22] In 1979, István Szerdahelyi called Kofman "apparently the only one to have written poetry in three constructed languages." [23]
Kofman was reported to have died during aerial bombing in 1940; [2] a message in the Occidental-language magazine Cosmoglotta records him as having died "just before the war". [4]
{{
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link){{
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link)Poems (selection) [2]
Abram Kofman | |
---|---|
Native name | Авраам Кофман |
Born | 1865 Odesa, Russian Empire |
Died | c. 1940 (aged 74–75) |
Occupation | Bookkeeper, Esperantist, poet |
Language | Esperanto, Russian, Ido, Occidental |
Abram Antoni Kofman ( Russian: Авраам Кофман; 1865– c. 1940), also known as Abraham S. Kofman, was a Russian Esperanto–language poet. Born in Odesa, Kofman was an early supporter of Esperanto, and one of the first Russian Jews to be so, learning the language in 1889. Kofman was a high-profile member of the first school of Esperanto literature, and had his work featured in the first anthologies of Esperanto poetry. He was responsible for translations of several sections of the Hebrew Bible in both Esperanto and its daughter language, Ido. Kofman also influenced the development of the international religion Hillelism by the creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof in 1901. Eventually switching languages from Esperanto to Ido, and later Occidental, Kofman purportedly died during aerial bombing in Odesa.
Kofman was born in Odesa, Russian Empire, in 1865, [1] working professionally as a bookkeeper. [2] He learnt the international auxiliary language Esperanto in 1889. [3] Ric Berger names him the first in Russia to promote Esperanto; [4] he was one of the first Esperantist Russian Jews [5] and one of 51 Jewish Esperantists in Odesa by 1902. [6]
Under the First Period of Esperanto literature, [7] Kofman was a member of a school of thought called the "Slav School" by Esperanto literature scholar Geoffrey Sutton [2] or the "Slavia" by Nikolaos Trunte. [8] This was the first main school of Esperanto literature and existed from 1916 to 1920. It was divided into two generations: Kofman was a member of the first, alongside authors such as Vasilij Devjatnin , Leo Belmont , and Zamenhof's brother Felix Zamenhof ; [9] several members of this group, including Kofman, collaborated on Zamenhof's 1903 anthology Fundamenta Krestomatio . [8] Characteristic of this group was a desire for stylistic freedom [10] – in the 1933 Enciklopedio de Esperanto, Julio Baghy described Kofman as an artistic translator, writing: [1]
Kofman wrote both original material as well as translations for several Esperanto periodicals, such as Lingvo Internacia. Kofman wrote in a variety of genres, including satirical epigrams; one of Kofman's short stories was featured in Louis de Beaufront's magazine L'Espérantiste . [2] He additionally collaborated with Bohema Esperantisto . [11] Kofman also featured in the first anthology of Esperanto poetry, La liro de la Esperantistoj, edited by Antoni Grabowski. [9] In 1896, he planned to publish a collection of poems [1] entitled Voices of People (Voĉoj de Popoloj) in eighteen languages, although this was never published. [12] For the texts in Finnish, Estonian, Hungarian, Japanese, and Mordvin, he asked for assistance from the Finnish Esperantist Gustaf John Ramstedt, [12] although Ramstedt could not speak Japanese. [13] In an open letter in the magazine Lingvo Internacia, Kofman stated that he hoped to eventually have 35-50 languages including: [14]
Kofman was the first Ancient Greek–Esperanto translator, translating Homer's Iliad between 1895 and 1897 as Iliado. [2] He was part of a team of Jewish translators in Odesa responsible for a translation of the Old Testament into Esperanto; Kofman also translated the Old Testament into Ido, alongside Esperanto translations of the Book of Esther and the Book of Ruth (in 1893). [15] In 1902 during the Second World Esperanto Congress, Kofman was elected by the Lingva Komitato (Language Committee) to a commission that corrected errors in the " Universala Vortaro" ("Universal Dictionary") of the Fundamento de Esperanto. [16]
Kofman was a close friend of L. L. Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto, [12] who communicated with Kofman regarding his ideas for Judaism. On 28 May 1901, Zamenhof sent Kofman a letter about his plans for Hillelism (Hilelismo), his planned version of Judaism that would form an international religion. This included the manuscript form of a brochure for the religion, that Zamenhof would publish later in 1901. Kofman did not read the full brochure, and responded with a letter of disgust, viewing the introduction of a philosophy such as Hillelism dangerous to the reputation of the Esperanto movement; [17] Zamenhof had wanted to use Esperanto as a "neutral language" in the religion. [18] Kofman was one of a number of educated Jews among which Zamenhof allowed the brochure to circulate [19] – he received an overall negative response, particularly from Esperantists in Poland and France. [17]
Nia linguo, per sa konstanta [ sic] devlopo, divenas sempre plu richa, do sempre plu apta a literatural uzado.
Our language, by its constant development, will become ever richer, thus ever more apt for literary use.
Abram Kofman, November 1910 in La Belga Sonorilo [20]
Although in 1894, Kofman was one of 157 Esperantists who voted against a reform of Esperanto, [21] in 1907, he changed languages from Esperanto to the Ido; this had been introduced by a proposition from the Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language, and around a tenth of Esperantists would switch alongside him. [1] He would later change to Edgar de Wahl's Occidental. [1] Author of a later-destroyed manuscript of a Russian-Occidental dictionary, [4] he also translated poetry into Occidental – a translation of a poem by Ivan Krylov by Kofman appeared in an edition of the magazine International magazine of stenography (Occidental: Revúe internationale de sténographie). [22] In 1979, István Szerdahelyi called Kofman "apparently the only one to have written poetry in three constructed languages." [23]
Kofman was reported to have died during aerial bombing in 1940; [2] a message in the Occidental-language magazine Cosmoglotta records him as having died "just before the war". [4]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link){{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)Poems (selection) [2]