| Occidental (Interlingue) |
| Created by: |
Edgar de Wahl (1922) |
| Setting and usage: |
International auxiliary language |
| Total speakers: |
— |
| Category (purpose): |
constructed language based on Indo-European languages |
| Language codes |
| ISO 639-1: |
ie |
| ISO 639-2: |
ile |
| ISO/DIS 639-3: |
ile |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |
The language Occidental, later Interlingue, is a planned language created by the Estonian naval officer and teacher Edgar de Wahl and published in 1922.
Occidental is devised with great care to ensure that many of its derived word forms do reflect the similar forms common to a number of Western European languages. This was done through application of de Wahl's rule which is actually a small set of rules for converting verb infinitives into derived nouns and adjectives. The result is a language relatively easy to understand at first sight for individuals acquainted with several Western European languages. Coupled with a simplified grammar, this made Occidental moderately popular in Europe during the decade and a half before World War II, and it is believed that it was at its height the fourth most popular planned language, after Esperanto, Volapük and perhaps Ido, though its intentional emphasis on European forms coupled with a somewhat Eurocentric philosophy espoused by several of its leading lights hindered its spread elsewhere.
Occidental survived World War II, undergoing a name change to Interlingue, but gradually faded into insignificance following the appearance of a competing naturalistic project (Interlingua) in the early 1950s.
Example texts
Li material civilisation, li scientie, e mem li arte unifica se plu e plu. Li cultivat europano senti se quasi in hem in omni landes queles have europan civilisation, it es, plu e plu, in li tot munde. Hodie presc omni states guerrea per li sam armes. Sin cessa li medies de intercommunication ameliora se, e in consecuentie de to li terra sembla diminuer se. Un Parisano es nu plu proxim a un angleso o a un germano quam il esset ante cent annus a un paisano frances.
Li Patre nor, the Lord's Prayer, in Interlingue (ex Occidental):
Patre nor, qui es in li cieles.
Mey tui nómine esser sanctificat,
mey tui regnia venir.
Mey tui vole esser fat
qualmen in li cieles talmen anc sur li terre.
Da nos hodie nor pan omnidial,
e pardona nor débites,
qualmen anc noi pardona nor debitores.
E ne inducte nos in tentation,
ma libera nos de lu mal.
Amen.
See also
External links
