Arcaicam Esperantom (, arkaika Esperanto), is a constructed auxiliary sociolect for translating literature into Esperanto created to act as a fictional 'Old Esperanto', in the vein of languages such as Middle English or the use of Latin citations in modern texts. It was created by linguist Manuel Halvelik as part of a range of stylistic variants including Gavaro (slang) and Popido (patois), forming Serio La Sociolekta Triopo. Halvelik also compiled a scientific vocabulary closer to Greco-Latin roots and proposed its application to fields such as taxonomy and linguistics. He gave this register of Esperanto the name Uniespo (Uniëspo, Universala Esperanto, 'Universal Esperanto'). The idea of an "old Esperanto" was proposed by the Hungarian poet Kálmán Kalocsay who in 1931 included a translation of the Funeral Sermon and Prayer, the first Hungarian text (12th century), with hypothetic forms as if Esperanto were a Romance language deriving from Vulgar Latin.

La Sociolekta Triopo

La Sociolekta Triopo (the sociolect triple) does not create new Esperantidos (e.g. Esperanto II), but its sole purpose—including Arcaicam Esperantom—is to reflect styles in literature translated into Esperanto, like the Berlin Middle-German dialect spoken by characters in Carl Zuckmayer's Captain of Köpenick (Popido), or ancient styles in Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (Arcaicam Esperantom). La Sociolekta Triopo thus constitutes not three new constructed languages, but constructed auxiliary sociolects for Esperanto, understandable by every reader of Esperanto but still providing the stylistic differences between dialects (Popido), slang (Gavaro), and ancient forms contrasting with Fundamento, standard Esperanto, e.g. in works of Mark Twain (slang and southern dialect) or The Lord of the Rings (Arcaicam Esperantom for the elves, Popido for the Hobbits).

Differences from Esperanto

Spelling

The three following rules are also added:

diphthongs

consonant clusters

Typography

Halvelik recommends blackletter and uncial types.

Pronouns

Pronouns are changed as:

• herself/himself/itself/themselves

Verbs

Ex: The modern Esperanto verb esti (to be), present tense: The Arcaicam Esperantom verb estir (to be), present tense: The other verb tenses behave the same way, as does the conditional mood: The imperative mood behaves differently from that pattern:

Nominals

Correlatives

(Note: Ali-, which in modern Esperanto is not a correlative despite its use in that fashion by some, becomes in Arcaicam Esperantom as altri- a full-fledged correlative.)

Articles

Examples

The Lord's Prayer

Romeo and Juliet

Phrases