maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society

Volapük

Volapük is an artificial language created by Johann Martin Schleyer (1831-1912). Volapük was a compound formed from two roots, vol (from “world”) and pük (from “speak”). Schleyer was a Catholic priest and proposed an artificial language in 1879, and was followed by a full outline published in 1880. Its orthography was absolutely phonetic, every letter had the same sound, and it had a simple regular grammar.  It was designed to be simple to learn with roots derived from European languages, bit with one syllable.  Volapük was the first artificial language to gain widespread support. The language grew in popularity and clubs opened around Europe, with 283 clubs in 1889. The motto of the movement was "Menad bal pük bal" meaning One mankind, one language. However later it was largely displaced by Esperanto.

Pened balid Yoliánesà (1 John)

The First Epistle of John (1 John) was translated by J.M. Schleyer (Jleyer.) and published in 1888 as "Pened balid Yoliánesà". It was published in Konstanz (Constance) in Baden, Germany.

Digital Edition

The Volapük First Epistle of John was digitised from an original copy in the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) archives at Cambridge, as part of its heritage texts digitisation project.