Another idiomatic expression that you might hear or see an Esperantist use is the term “Esperantujo.” If we break down the word, we find “Esperant-,” our root term for our favorite constructed language, and “-ujo,” which means “container” when used as a suffix. (You may recall seeing -ujo in such words as benzinujo, meaning gas tank, or cindrujo, an ashtray.) Taken in this context, we might consider “Esperantujo” to mean…A container of Esperanto? Not quite…When used with a nationality, -ujo roughly means “land.”

It takes a little bit of abstract thinking, but “Esperantujo” sort of means “land of Esperanto.” Now, we all know that Esperanto does not have its own country! However, it does have its own community, and its own developments within that community. For this reason, we have the word “Esperantujo.”

Now that you know that word, you may well be part of it! Bonan nokton, samideanoj!