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{{Short description|Language spoken by Adam in the Garden of Eden}}
{{redirect|Adamic}}
{{
{{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]] ({{
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.
▲==Patristic Period==
[[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] addresses the issue in ''[[The City of God]]''.<ref>Book XVI, chs. 10 – 12.</ref> While not explicit, the implication of there being but one human language prior to the [[Tower of Babel]]'s collapse is that the language, which was preserved by [[Eber|Heber]] and his son [[Peleg]], and which is recognized as the language passed down to [[Abraham]] and his descendants, is the language that would have been used by Adam.
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{{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, [[
[[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>
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=== Proponents ===
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2018}}
Elizabethan scholar [[John Dee]] makes references to
Dutch physician, linguist, and humanist [[Johannes Goropius Becanus]] (1519–1572) theorized in ''Origines Antwerpianae'' (1569) that [[Antwerp]]ian [[
=== Opponents ===
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=== Latter Day Saint movement ===
[[Joseph Smith]], founder of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], in his [[Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible|revision of the Bible]], declared the Adamic language to have been "pure and undefiled".<ref>[[Book of Moses]] [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/moses/6.6?lang=eng 6:6].</ref> Some [[
Some other early Latter Day Saint leaders, including [[Brigham Young]],<ref>Brigham Young, [http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/MStar&CISOPTR=7661&filename=7662.pdf "History of Brigham Young"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612023524/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=%2FMStar&CISOPTR=7661&filename=7662.pdf |date=12 June 2011 }}, ''[[Millennial Star]]'', vol. 25, no. 28, p. 439 (1863-07-11), cited in ''[[History of the Church (Joseph Smith)|History of the Church]]'' '''1''':297, footnote (Young prays in the Adamic tongue).</ref> [[Orson Pratt]],<ref name="Pratt">''[[Journal of Discourses]]'' [http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/JournalOfDiscourses3&CISOPTR=1953&filename=100504_170857_cp342_Va_M230_J82_v02.pdf '''2''':342] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025133000/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=%2FJournalOfDiscourses3&CISOPTR=1953&filename=100504_170857_cp342_Va_M230_J82_v02.pdf |date=25 October 2007 }} (God = "Ahman"; Son of God = "Son Ahman"; Men = "Sons Ahman"; Angel = "Anglo-man").</ref> and [[Elizabeth Ann Whitney]],<ref>''[[Woman's Exponent]]'' [http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/WomansExp&CISOPTR=6638&filename=6639.pdf '''7''':83] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025132953/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=%2FWomansExp&CISOPTR=6638&filename=6639.pdf |date=25 October 2007 }} (1 November 1878) (Whitney sings a hymn in the Adamic tongue).</ref> claimed to have received several words in the Adamic language by [[revelation (Latter Day Saints)|revelation]]. Some Latter Day Saints believe that the Adamic language is the "pure language" spoken of by [[Zephaniah]]<ref>[[Book of Zephaniah|Zephaniah]] {{bibleverse-nb||Zephaniah|3:9}}</ref> and that it will be restored as the [[universal language]] of humankind at the end of the world.<ref>[[Oliver Cowdery]], [http://patriot.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/NCMP1820-1846&CISOPTR=10065&filename=5298.pdf "The Prophecy of Zephaniah"]{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[Evening and Morning Star]]'', vol. 2, no. 18, p. 142 (March 1834).</ref><ref>[[Bruce R. McConkie]] (1966, 2d ed.). ''[[Mormon Doctrine]]'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft) p. 19.</ref><ref>[[Ezra Taft Benson]] (1988). ''Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft) p. 93.</ref>
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===Goidelic languages===
Nicholas Wolf writes that 19th-century [[Irish language]] speakers and publications claim that Irish (or some [[Goidelic language]]) is a language of Biblical primacy comparable to Hebrew, with some claiming it was the language of Adam.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wolf |first1=Nicholas M. |title=When Irish was still the greatest little language in the world |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/when-irish-was-still-the-greatest-little-language-in-the-world-1.2082623 |access-date=9 February 2019 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en |postscript=,}} citing {{cite book| last=Wolf |first=Nicholas M. |title=An Irish-Speaking Island: State, Religion, Community, and the Linguistic Landscape in Ireland, 1770–1870 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |date=November 2014 |isbn=978-0-299-30274-0 |
== In popular culture ==
In the videogame ''[[Indiana Jones and the Great Circle]]'', the language Adamic is discovered by the protagonist as an early human language spoken by [[nephilim|giants]], which was adapted into [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] and [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] in ancient times. It is also represented on stone tablets, resembling [[List of writing systems#Logographic systems|logographic]] writing systems of the early Bronze Age.
==See also==
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