Léon Bollack
Léon Bollack | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1859 |
| Died | 1925 (aged 65–66) |
| Occupation | Trader |
| Known for | Inventor of Bolak |
Léon Bollack (1859 – 1925) was a French trader who invented Bolak, a constructed language that also went by the name "the Blue Language", in 1899.[1][2]
Personal
[edit]His parents were Hermann Bollack and Rachel Léontine Léon (daughter of Moise Léon, founder of the synagogue Buffault in Paris, and Henriette Vissier). The father was from Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, where the family name had been present "for centuries".[1] The mother was from Paris.
Together with his wife Amelie Picard (daughter of Alphonse Mayer Picard and Sara Levy), he had three children: Léontine Rachel Alice (~1891-1981), Lucien Armand Bollack (1892 – 1968), who became an engineer, and a second daughter, Fanny Louise Bollack (1898 – 1958).[1]
He died on September 23, 1925. His daughter, Léontine, changed her name to Alice and married Roger-Angel Olchanski. Together they had two sons, Jean and Daniel, although it was reported[by whom?] that the second son was born as a result of an affair with Alex Virot, a sports journalist.[citation needed].
His son, Lucien Armand Bollack went and founded the Bollack Netter & Co car company.
Léon Bollack, his wife Amélie and his daughter Fanny are buried in the Montmartre cemetery in Paris (3rd division).
New international languages
[edit]After a few years promoting Bolak, he abandoned the struggle in 1907 in favour of the movement backing Ido (a reformed version of the Esperanto language).[1][2] It is possible that the blue color of the Ido flag was his proposal. He uttered the phrase: "It seems to me that both the Esperanto and Volapük poets are worthy only to be the objects of ridicule."
Bollack inspired H.G. Wells, who mentioned him in his book A Modern Utopia.
Works
[edit]Books
[edit]Bolak
[edit]- La Langue Bleue Bolak: langue internationale pratique, Paris: 1899 (480+ pages).
- Abridged grammar of the Blue Language [translated by Tischer], Paris: Pres. Dupont, 1900 (64 pages).
- Premier vocabulaire de la langue bleue Bolak, Paris: 1902 (90+ pages).
Other
[edit]- "Comment Et Pour Quoi La France Doit Renoncer A L'Alsace-Lorraine" (1905).
- "La monnaie internationale" (La Revue, June 15, 1911).
- "Comment tuer la guerre - La loi mondiale de boycottage douanier". Paris, 1912. [Report presented to the legal committee of the 19th Universal Peace Congress (Geneva, September 1912) on economic sanctions.]
- "L'emploi rationnel de la plume des oiseaux sauvages. Réglementation, oui; prohibition, non." Comite d’Ornithologie Economique, 1914.
- "Vers La Fédération Mondiale", in Revue "Les Documents Du Progres" - Revue Internationale (arguing for a World Federation).
Articles
[edit]- "La Langue Française en l'an 2003", by Leon Bollack, in La Revue, 15 July 1903.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "H. S. Chapman: Léon Bollack and His Forgotten Project". Fiatlingua.org. Accessed 11 November 2018.
- ^ a b "Bolak History". langmaker.com. Archived from the original on 2008-06-26. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
