Esperanto meaning
Esperanto is the present participle of esperi, “to hope.” Zamenhof signed the first book Doktoro Esperanto — Doctor Hopeful. The community kept the pen name as the name of the language. In Spanish one says el esperanto or el idioma esperanto; in Italian la lingua esperanto; in Japanese エスペラント語.
The word has other uses
Search results mix the language with a tequila brand, parks, and photography studios of the same name. This site is about the international language published in 1887 — hats on letters, sixteen rules, the green star.
How the language works
Twenty-eight letters, one sound each. Stress on the second-last syllable. Sixteen grammar rules without a secret exception list. Affixes multiply roots: mal- reverses, -in- marks a feminine form, -ej- a place. That design is why learners often speak a first correct sentence on day one: Saluton. Mi lernas Esperanton.