Esperantujo

Esperantujo (IPA: [esperanˈtujo]) or Esperantio (IPA: [esperanˈtio]) is the community of speakers of the Esperanto language and their culture, as well as the places and institutions where the language is used. The term is used "as if it were a country." Although it does not occupy its own area of Earth's surface, it can be said to constitute the 120 countries which have their own national Esperanto association. The word is formed analogously to country names. In Esperanto, the names of countries were traditionally formed from the ethnic name of their inhabitants plus the suffix -ujo. For example, "France" was Francujo, from franco (a Frenchman). The term analogous to Francujo would be Esperantistujo (Esperantist-nation). However, that would convey the idea of a physical body of people, whereas using the name of the language as the basis of the word gives it the more abstract connotation of a cultural sphere. Currently, names of nation states are often formed with the suffix -io (traditionally reserved for deriving country names from geographic features — e.g. Francio instead of Francujo), and recently the form Esperantio has been used, among others, in the Pasporta Servo and the Esperanto Citizens' Community. In 1908, Dr. Wilhelm Molly attempted to create an Esperanto state in the Prussian-Belgian condominium of Neutral Moresnet, known as "Amikejo" (place of friendship).