Adamic language: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Adam naming the animals. Etching. Wellcome V0034186.jpg|thumb|Adam naming the animals as described in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]. In some interpretations, he uses the “Adamic language” to do so.]]

The '''Adamic language''', according to [[~~Jews|Jewish~~]] ~~tradition (as recorded in the ''[[midrash]]im'')~~ and some [[Christians]], is the language spoken by [[Adam]] (and possibly [[Eve]]) in the [[Garden of Eden]]. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by [[God]] to address Adam (the [[divine language]]), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve), as in the [[Genesis creation narrative|second Genesis creation narrative]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|2:19|KJV}}).

The '''Adamic language''', according to [[Abraham Abulafia]] and some [[Christians]], is the language spoken by [[Adam]] (and possibly [[Eve]]) in the [[Garden of Eden]]. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by [[God]] to address Adam (the [[divine language]]), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve), as in the [[Genesis creation narrative|second Genesis creation narrative]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|2:19|KJV}}).

In the [[Middle Ages]], various Jewish commentators held that Adam spoke [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], a view also addressed in various ways by the late medieval Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri]]. In the [[early modern period]], some authors continued to discuss the possibility of an Adamic language, some continuing to hold to the idea that it was Hebrew, while others such as [[John Locke]] were more skeptical. According to [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian]] and [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Eritrean]] traditions, the ancient [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]] of [[Geʽez]] is the language of Adam, the first and original language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Is 'Ge'ez' the original language of humanity? {{!}} Ethiopia The Kingdom of God |url=https://ethiopiathekingdomofgod.org/content/%E2%80%98geez%E2%80%99-original-language-humanity |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=ethiopiathekingdomofgod.org}}</ref> More recently, a variety of [[Mormon]] authors have expressed various opinions about the nature of the Adamic language.

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Traditional Jewish exegesis such as [[Midrash]]<ref>[[Genesis Rabbah]] 38</ref> says that Adam spoke the [[Hebrew language]] because the names he gives Eve – ''Isha''<ref>[[Book of Genesis]] 2:23</ref> and ''Chava''<ref>Genesis 3:20</ref> – only make sense in Hebrew. By contrast~~, [[Kabbalah]] assumed an "eternal Torah" which was not identical to the [[Torah]] written in Hebrew. Thus~~, [[Abraham Abulafia]] ~~in the 13th century~~ assumed that the language spoken in [[Paradise]] had been different from Hebrew, and rejected the claim then-current also among Christian authors, that [[language deprivation experiments|a child left unexposed to linguistic stimulus]] would automatically begin to speak in Hebrew.<ref>Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 32 f.</ref> Both Muslim and Christian Arabs, such as [[Sulayman al-Ghazzi]], considered [[Syriac language|Syriac]] the language spoken by Adam and Eve.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noble |first1=Samuel |last2=Treiger |first2=Alexander |title=The Orthodox Church in the Arab World, 700–1700: An Anthology of Sources |date=15 March 2014 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-5130-1 |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6rMDwAAQBAJ |access-date=17 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

Traditional Jewish exegesis such as [[Midrash]]<ref>[[Genesis Rabbah]] 38</ref> says that Adam spoke the [[Hebrew language]] because the names he gives Eve – ''Isha''<ref>[[Book of Genesis]] 2:23</ref> and ''Chava''<ref>Genesis 3:20</ref> – only make sense in Hebrew. By contrast, [[Abraham Abulafia]] (1240–1291) assumed that the language spoken in [[Paradise]] had been different from Hebrew, and rejected the claim then-current also among Christian authors, that [[language deprivation experiments|a child left unexposed to linguistic stimulus]] would automatically begin to speak in Hebrew.<ref>Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 32 f.</ref>

Both Muslim and Christian Arabs, such as [[Sulayman al-Ghazzi]], considered [[Syriac language|Syriac]] the language spoken by Adam and Eve.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noble |first1=Samuel |last2=Treiger |first2=Alexander |title=The Orthodox Church in the Arab World, 700–1700: An Anthology of Sources |date=15 March 2014 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-5130-1 |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6rMDwAAQBAJ |access-date=17 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Umberto Eco]] (1993) notes that [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] is ambiguous on whether the language of Adam was preserved by Adam's descendants until the [[confusion of tongues]],<ref>Genesis 11:1–9</ref> or if it began to evolve naturally even before Babel.<ref>Genesis 10:5</ref><ref>Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), 7–10.</ref>

[[Dante Alighieri]] addresses the topic in his ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'' (1302–1305). He argues that the Adamic language is of divine origin and therefore unchangeable.<ref>Mazzocco, p. 159</ref> He also notes that according to Genesis, the first speech act is due to Eve, addressing [[Serpents in the Bible|the serpent]], and not to Adam.<ref>''mulierem invenitur ante omnes fuisse locutam''. Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 50.</ref>

[[Dante Alighieri]] addresses the topic in his ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'' (1302–1305). He argues that the Adamic language is of divine origin and therefore unchangeable.<ref>Mazzocco, p. 159</ref> He also notes that according to Genesis, the first speech act is due to Eve, addressing [[Serpents in the Bible|the serpent]], and not to Adam.<ref>''mulierem invenitur ante omnes fuisse locutam''. Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 50.</ref> [[Paracelsus]] believed in an Adamic language,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coudert |first=Allison P. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Impact_of_the_Kabbalah_in_the_Sevent/ttX7EAAAQBAJ |title=The Impact of the Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century: The Life and Thought of Francis Mercury van Helmont (1614-1698) |date=2023-08-14 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-67914-6 |pages=90 |language=en}}</ref> as did [[Johann Reuchlin]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/For_the_Sake_of_Learning_2_vols/jHqkDAAAQBAJ? |title=For the Sake of Learning (2 vols): Essays in honor of Anthony Grafton |date=2016-06-27 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-26331-4 |language=en}}</ref>

In his ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' (c. 1308–1320), however, Dante changes his view to another that treats the Adamic language as the product of Adam.<ref>Mazzocco, p. 170</ref> This had the consequence that it could no longer be regarded as immutable, and hence Hebrew could not be regarded as identical with the language of Paradise. Dante concludes (''Paradiso'' XXVI) that Hebrew is a derivative of the language of Adam. In particular, the chief Hebrew name for God in scholastic tradition, ''[[El (god)|El]]'', must be derived of a different Adamic name for God, which Dante gives as ''[[Close front unrounded vowel|I]]''.<ref>Pria ch’i’ scendessi a l’infernale ambascia,<br>

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Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist [[Johannes Goropius Becanus]] (1519–1572) theorized in ''Origines Antwerpianae'' (1569) that [[Antwerp]]ian [[Brabantian Dutch|Babrantic]], spoken in the region between the [[Scheldt]] and [[Meuse]] Rivers, was the original language spoken in Paradise. Goropius believed that the most ancient language on Earth would be the simplest language, and that the simplest language would contain mostly short words. Since Brabantic has a higher number of short words than do Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, Goropius reasoned that it was the older language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gorporius Becanus |first=Johannes |date=2014 |title=Van Adam tot Antwerpen: Een bloemlezing uit de Origines Antwerpianae en de Opera van Johannes Goropius Becanus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgWyCAAAQBAJ&pg=265 |location=Hilversum |publisher=Uitgeverij Verloren |pages=265–77 |isbn=9789087044312}}</ref> His work influenced that of [[Simon Stevin]] (1548–1620), who espoused similar ideas in "Uytspraeck van de weerdicheyt der Duytse tael", a chapter in ''[[De Beghinselen Der Weeghconst]]'' (1586).

By the 17th century, Adamic was the most popular theory of the nature of language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Authors |first=Various |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Routledge_Library_Editions_Philosophy_of/sXM3EAAAQBAJ |title=Routledge Library Editions: Philosophy of Language |date=2021-07-14 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-52144-2 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Opponents ===

~~By the 17th century, the~~ existence and nature of the alleged Adamic language was commonly discussed amongst European Jewish and Christian mystics and primitive linguists.<ref name="Noordegraaf">{{Cite journal |last=Noordegraaf |first=Jan |date=1983 |title=Nog eens Hedendaagsch fetischisme |url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_voo004198301_01/_voo004198301_01_0009.php |journal=Voortgang |publisher= Stichting Neerlandistiek VU |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=193–230 |access-date=16 January 2018}}</ref> [[Robert Boyle]] (1627–1691) was skeptical that Hebrew was the language best capable of describing the nature of things, stating:

The existence and nature of the alleged Adamic language was commonly discussed amongst European Jewish and Christian mystics and primitive linguists.<ref name="Noordegraaf">{{Cite journal |last=Noordegraaf |first=Jan |date=1983 |title=Nog eens Hedendaagsch fetischisme |url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_voo004198301_01/_voo004198301_01_0009.php |journal=Voortgang |publisher= Stichting Neerlandistiek VU |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=193–230 |access-date=16 January 2018}}</ref> [[Robert Boyle]] (1627–1691) was skeptical that Hebrew was the language best capable of describing the nature of things, stating:

<blockquote>I could never find, that the Hebrew names of animals, mentioned in the beginning of Genesis, argued a (much) clearer insight into their natures, than did the names of the same or some other animals in Greek, or other languages (1665:45).<ref name="Noordegraaf"/></blockquote>

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
 [[File:Adam naming the animals. Etching. Wellcome V0034186.jpg|thumb|Adam naming the animals as described in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]. In some interpretations, he uses the “Adamic language” to do so.]]
-The '''Adamic language''', according to [[Jews|Jewish]] tradition (as recorded in the ''[[midrash]]im'') and some [[Christians]], is the language spoken by [[Adam]] (and possibly [[Eve]]) in the [[Garden of Eden]]. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by [[God]] to address Adam (the [[divine language]]), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve), as in the [[Genesis creation narrative|second Genesis creation narrative]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|2:19|KJV}}).
+The '''Adamic language''', according to [[Abraham Abulafia]] and some [[Christians]], is the language spoken by [[Adam]] (and possibly [[Eve]]) in the [[Garden of Eden]]. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by [[God]] to address Adam (the [[divine language]]), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve), as in the [[Genesis creation narrative|second Genesis creation narrative]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|2:19|KJV}}).
 In the [[Middle Ages]], various Jewish commentators held that Adam spoke [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], a view also addressed in various ways by the late medieval Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri]]. In the [[early modern period]], some authors continued to discuss the possibility of an Adamic language, some continuing to hold to the idea that it was Hebrew, while others such as [[John Locke]] were more skeptical. According to [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian]] and [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Eritrean]] traditions, the ancient [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]] of [[Geʽez]] is the language of Adam, the first and original language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Is 'Ge'ez' the original language of humanity? {{!}} Ethiopia The Kingdom of God |url=https://ethiopiathekingdomofgod.org/content/%E2%80%98geez%E2%80%99-original-language-humanity |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=ethiopiathekingdomofgod.org}}</ref> More recently, a variety of [[Mormon]] authors have expressed various opinions about the nature of the Adamic language.
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 {{further|Confusion of tongues|Lingua ignota}}
-Traditional Jewish exegesis such as [[Midrash]]<ref>[[Genesis Rabbah]] 38</ref> says that Adam spoke the [[Hebrew language]] because the names he gives Eve – ''Isha''<ref>[[Book of Genesis]] 2:23</ref> and ''Chava''<ref>Genesis 3:20</ref> – only make sense in Hebrew. By contrast, [[Kabbalah]] assumed an "eternal Torah" which was not identical to the [[Torah]] written in Hebrew. Thus, [[Abraham Abulafia]] in the 13th century assumed that the language spoken in [[Paradise]] had been different from Hebrew, and rejected the claim then-current also among Christian authors, that [[language deprivation experiments|a child left unexposed to linguistic stimulus]] would automatically begin to speak in Hebrew.<ref>Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 32 f.</ref> Both Muslim and Christian Arabs, such as [[Sulayman al-Ghazzi]], considered [[Syriac language|Syriac]] the language spoken by Adam and Eve.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noble |first1=Samuel |last2=Treiger |first2=Alexander |title=The Orthodox Church in the Arab World, 700–1700: An Anthology of Sources |date=15 March 2014 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-5130-1 |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6rMDwAAQBAJ |access-date=17 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
+Traditional Jewish exegesis such as [[Midrash]]<ref>[[Genesis Rabbah]] 38</ref> says that Adam spoke the [[Hebrew language]] because the names he gives Eve – ''Isha''<ref>[[Book of Genesis]] 2:23</ref> and ''Chava''<ref>Genesis 3:20</ref> – only make sense in Hebrew. By contrast, [[Abraham Abulafia]] (1240–1291) assumed that the language spoken in [[Paradise]] had been different from Hebrew, and rejected the claim then-current also among Christian authors, that [[language deprivation experiments|a child left unexposed to linguistic stimulus]] would automatically begin to speak in Hebrew.<ref>Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 32 f.</ref>
+Both Muslim and Christian Arabs, such as [[Sulayman al-Ghazzi]], considered [[Syriac language|Syriac]] the language spoken by Adam and Eve.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noble |first1=Samuel |last2=Treiger |first2=Alexander |title=The Orthodox Church in the Arab World, 700–1700: An Anthology of Sources |date=15 March 2014 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-5130-1 |page=164 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q6rMDwAAQBAJ |access-date=17 March 2024 |language=en}}</ref>
 [[Umberto Eco]] (1993) notes that [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] is ambiguous on whether the language of Adam was preserved by Adam's descendants until the [[confusion of tongues]],<ref>Genesis 11:1–9</ref> or if it began to evolve naturally even before Babel.<ref>Genesis 10:5</ref><ref>Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), 7–10.</ref>
-[[Dante Alighieri]] addresses the topic in his ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'' (1302–1305). He argues that the Adamic language is of divine origin and therefore unchangeable.<ref>Mazzocco, p. 159</ref> He also notes that according to Genesis, the first speech act is due to Eve, addressing [[Serpents in the Bible|the serpent]], and not to Adam.<ref>''mulierem invenitur ante omnes fuisse locutam''. Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 50.</ref>
+[[Dante Alighieri]] addresses the topic in his ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'' (1302–1305). He argues that the Adamic language is of divine origin and therefore unchangeable.<ref>Mazzocco, p. 159</ref> He also notes that according to Genesis, the first speech act is due to Eve, addressing [[Serpents in the Bible|the serpent]], and not to Adam.<ref>''mulierem invenitur ante omnes fuisse locutam''. Umberto Eco, ''The Search for the Perfect Language'' (1993), p. 50.</ref> [[Paracelsus]] believed in an Adamic language,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Coudert |first=Allison P. |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Impact_of_the_Kabbalah_in_the_Sevent/ttX7EAAAQBAJ |title=The Impact of the Kabbalah in the Seventeenth Century: The Life and Thought of Francis Mercury van Helmont (1614-1698) |date=2023-08-14 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-67914-6 |pages=90 |language=en}}</ref> as did [[Johann Reuchlin]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/For_the_Sake_of_Learning_2_vols/jHqkDAAAQBAJ? |title=For the Sake of Learning (2 vols): Essays in honor of Anthony Grafton |date=2016-06-27 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-26331-4 |language=en}}</ref>
 In his ''[[Divine Comedy]]'' (c. 1308–1320), however, Dante changes his view to another that treats the Adamic language as the product of Adam.<ref>Mazzocco, p. 170</ref> This had the consequence that it could no longer be regarded as immutable, and hence Hebrew could not be regarded as identical with the language of Paradise. Dante concludes (''Paradiso'' XXVI) that Hebrew is a derivative of the language of Adam. In particular, the chief Hebrew name for God in scholastic tradition, ''[[El (god)|El]]'', must be derived of a different Adamic name for God, which Dante gives as ''[[Close front unrounded vowel|I]]''.<ref>Pria ch’i’ scendessi a l’infernale ambascia,<br>
@@ Line 36: / Line 38: @@
 Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist [[Johannes Goropius Becanus]] (1519–1572) theorized in ''Origines Antwerpianae'' (1569) that [[Antwerp]]ian [[Brabantian Dutch|Babrantic]], spoken in the region between the [[Scheldt]] and [[Meuse]] Rivers, was the original language spoken in Paradise. Goropius believed that the most ancient language on Earth would be the simplest language, and that the simplest language would contain mostly short words. Since Brabantic has a higher number of short words than do Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, Goropius reasoned that it was the older language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gorporius Becanus |first=Johannes |date=2014 |title=Van Adam tot Antwerpen: Een bloemlezing uit de Origines Antwerpianae en de Opera van Johannes Goropius Becanus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgWyCAAAQBAJ&pg=265 |location=Hilversum |publisher=Uitgeverij Verloren |pages=265–77 |isbn=9789087044312}}</ref> His work influenced that of [[Simon Stevin]] (1548–1620), who espoused similar ideas in "Uytspraeck van de weerdicheyt der Duytse tael", a chapter in ''[[De Beghinselen Der Weeghconst]]'' (1586).
+By the 17th century, Adamic was the most popular theory of the nature of language.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Authors |first=Various |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Routledge_Library_Editions_Philosophy_of/sXM3EAAAQBAJ |title=Routledge Library Editions: Philosophy of Language |date=2021-07-14 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-52144-2 |language=en}}</ref>
 === Opponents ===
-By the 17th century, the existence and nature of the alleged Adamic language was commonly discussed amongst European Jewish and Christian mystics and primitive linguists.<ref name="Noordegraaf">{{Cite journal |last=Noordegraaf |first=Jan |date=1983 |title=Nog eens Hedendaagsch fetischisme |url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_voo004198301_01/_voo004198301_01_0009.php |journal=Voortgang |publisher= Stichting Neerlandistiek VU |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=193–230 |access-date=16 January 2018}}</ref> [[Robert Boyle]] (1627–1691) was skeptical that Hebrew was the language best capable of describing the nature of things, stating:
+The existence and nature of the alleged Adamic language was commonly discussed amongst European Jewish and Christian mystics and primitive linguists.<ref name="Noordegraaf">{{Cite journal |last=Noordegraaf |first=Jan |date=1983 |title=Nog eens Hedendaagsch fetischisme |url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_voo004198301_01/_voo004198301_01_0009.php |journal=Voortgang |publisher= Stichting Neerlandistiek VU |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=193–230 |access-date=16 January 2018}}</ref> [[Robert Boyle]] (1627–1691) was skeptical that Hebrew was the language best capable of describing the nature of things, stating:
 <blockquote>I could never find, that the Hebrew names of animals, mentioned in the beginning of Genesis, argued a (much) clearer insight into their natures, than did the names of the same or some other animals in Greek, or other languages (1665:45).<ref name="Noordegraaf"/></blockquote>

Adamic language: Difference between revisions

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