Li Europan lingues
Encyclopedia
Li Europan lingues is a quotation in Occidental
, an international auxiliary language
devised by Edgar von Wahl in
1922. It is used in some HTML
template
s as a fill-in or placeholder
text.
One of the most common placeholder texts is lorem ipsum
. A similar text of this type is the pangram
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
, which is often used in fill-in text and to demonstrate and compare typeface
s because it contains all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet
.
English translation:
Don Harlow
posted a message to the Auxlang List on 5 August 2006, mentioning its appearance in the "CSS Cookbook" from O'Reilly
by Christopher Schmitt
, and in templates of webpages which implement CSS
. http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0608a&L=auxlang&F=&S=&P=7343
Don Gasper posted another message to the same list suggesting a possible source:
William Patterson
was pleasantly surprised that evening to read about the appearance of his version of Lorem ipsum in the "CSS Cookbook" and quickly confessed. In June 1998, at a time when he was dabbling in Occidental, he had come across the Lorem ipsum text somewhere and learned about its use as a template. As was his wont when learning something new like that, he created a webpage about it. But while warning about the existence of "corrupt" versions, he offered one himself which included some Occidental text, a dash of Esperanto
, some variations of his given name, and a little bit of nonsense. In September 2002 he came across a copy of his version on the Web. Curious, he searched for other instances, and found that on 10 September 2002, an AllTheWeb
search for the strings "ulliam" and "willum" returned 513 hits; by 10 December 2002, 962; and by 14 October 2003, 2337. (One page which he found particularly amusing was a Swedish translation of his own webpage— Occidental, commentary, page colors, page title "Ailanto : Lorem ipsum" and all!) And now it's in the "CSS Cookbook"!
An HTML comment in the page that started it all attributes the Occidental text itself to S. W. Beer.
Occidental language
The language Occidental, later Interlingue, is a planned language created by the Balto-German naval officer and teacher Edgar de Wahl and published in 1922....
, an international auxiliary language
International auxiliary language
An international auxiliary language or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language...
devised by Edgar von Wahl in
1922. It is used in some HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
template
Template
Template may mean:*a stencil, pattern or overlay used in graphic arts and sewing to replicate letters, shapes or designs...
s as a fill-in or placeholder
Placeholder
Placeholder may refer to:In language:* Placeholder name, words that can refer to objects or people, whose names are unknown or irrelevant* Filler text, shares some characteristics of a real written text, but is random or otherwise generated...
text.
One of the most common placeholder texts is lorem ipsum
Lorem ipsum
In publishing and graphic design, lorem ipsum[p] is placeholder text commonly used to demonstrate the graphics elements of a document or visual presentation, such as font, typography, and layout...
. A similar text of this type is the pangram
Pangram
A pangram , or holoalphabetic sentence, is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding...
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" is an English-language pangram, that is, a phrase that contains all of the letters of the alphabet. It has been used to test typewriters and computer keyboards, and in other applications involving all of the letters in the English alphabet...
, which is often used in fill-in text and to demonstrate and compare typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
s because it contains all 26 letters of the Latin alphabet
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
.
Text
When used as placeholder text, Li Europan lingues is usually one or two paragraphs and reads as follows:- Li Europan lingues es membres del sam familie. Lor separat existentie es un myth. Por scientie, musica, sport etc, litot Europa usa li sam vocabular. Li lingues differe solmen in li grammatica, li pronunciation e li plu commun vocabules. Omnicos directe al desirabilite de un nov lingua franca: On refusa continuar payar custosi traductores.
- At solmen va esser necessi far uniform grammatica, pronunciation e plu sommun paroles. Ma quande lingues coalesce, li grammatica del resultant lingue es plu simplic e regulari quam ti del coalescent lingues. Li nov lingua franca va esser plu simplic e regulari quam li existent Europan lingues. It va esser tam simplic quam Occidental in fact, it va esser Occidental. A un Angleso it va semblar un simplificat Angles, quam un skeptic Cambridge amico dit me que Occidental es.
English translation:
- The European languages are members of the same family. Their separate existence is a myth. For science, music, sport, etc, Europe uses the same vocabulary. The languages only differ in their grammar, their pronunciation and their most common words. Everyone realizes why a new common language would be desirable: one could refuse to pay expensive translators.
- To achieve this, it would be necessary to have uniform grammar, pronunciation and more common words. If several languages coalesce, the grammar of the resulting language is more simple and regular than that of the individual languages. The new common language will be more simple and regular than the existing European languages. It will be as simple as Occidental; in fact, it will be Occidental. To an English person, it will seem like simplified English, as a skeptical Cambridge friend of mine told me what Occidental is.
History and discovery of Li Europan lingues text
The text of Li Europan lingues is found in many HTML templates and through copying and uploading of templates this phrase seems to have found its use in many websites.Don Harlow
Don Harlow
Donald Harlow was an active Esperantist and former president of Esperanto-USA , and also former editor of ELNA's magazine Esperanto USA. He authored a self-published book on the Esperanto movement, The Esperanto Book, which is...
posted a message to the Auxlang List on 5 August 2006, mentioning its appearance in the "CSS Cookbook" from O'Reilly
O'Reilly
O'Reilly is the Anglicised form of the Gaelic Ó Raghallaigh. It is also the patronymic form of the Irish name Reilly . It is commonly found throughout Ireland, with the greatest concentration of the surname found in County Cavan followed by Longford, Meath, Westmeath, Fermanagh and Monaghan, and...
by Christopher Schmitt
Christopher Schmitt
Christopher Schmitt is a web designer, author, trainer, and speaker living in Austin, TX.- Life and career :Developing Web sites since 1993, Christopher interned for both David Siegel and Lynda Weinman in the mid-90s while he was an undergraduate at Florida State University working on a fine arts...
, and in templates of webpages which implement CSS
CSS
-Computing:*Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web development*Central Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
. http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0608a&L=auxlang&F=&S=&P=7343
Don Gasper posted another message to the same list suggesting a possible source:
- I have a theory, but it is only a theory. The Interlinguist/Occidentalist Ilmari Federn, who later adopted the name Charles Sprague and came to live in England in the late 1930s, worked at the "Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
" in London. I think in the newspaper press. It is possible that he added the text in Interlingue to the standard Lorem ipsum passage. Unfortunately, I never asked him about this when I got to know him in the latter years of his life, in the early 1990s.
William Patterson
William Patterson
William Patterson may refer to:* William Patterson , 19th century engineer and boat builder* William Patterson , U.S. Representative from New York* William Patterson , U.S...
was pleasantly surprised that evening to read about the appearance of his version of Lorem ipsum in the "CSS Cookbook" and quickly confessed. In June 1998, at a time when he was dabbling in Occidental, he had come across the Lorem ipsum text somewhere and learned about its use as a template. As was his wont when learning something new like that, he created a webpage about it. But while warning about the existence of "corrupt" versions, he offered one himself which included some Occidental text, a dash of Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, some variations of his given name, and a little bit of nonsense. In September 2002 he came across a copy of his version on the Web. Curious, he searched for other instances, and found that on 10 September 2002, an AllTheWeb
AlltheWeb
AlltheWeb was an Internet search engine that made its debut in mid-1999. It grew out of FTP Search, Tor Egge's doctorate thesis at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, which he started in 1994, which in turn resulted in the formation of Fast Search and Transfer, established on July...
search for the strings "ulliam" and "willum" returned 513 hits; by 10 December 2002, 962; and by 14 October 2003, 2337. (One page which he found particularly amusing was a Swedish translation of his own webpage— Occidental, commentary, page colors, page title "Ailanto : Lorem ipsum" and all!) And now it's in the "CSS Cookbook"!
An HTML comment in the page that started it all attributes the Occidental text itself to S. W. Beer.