Adamic language: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:05, 8 May 2023

Revision as of 09:31, 17 May 2023

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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. More recently, a variety of [[Mormon]] authors have expressed various opinions about the nature of the Adamic language.

According to Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions, the ancient Semitic language of Ge'ez is the language of Adam.<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> Southern Semitic languages spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea are older than Northern Semitic languages, such as Hebrew.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adugna |first=Gabe |title=Research: Language Learning -– Amharic: Home |url=https://library.bu.edu/amharic/Home |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=library.bu.edu |language=en}}</ref> Semitic languages were spoken in Eritrea from approximately 2000 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Munro-Hay |first=Stuart |date=1991 |title=Aksum: An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity |url=https://www.livingston.org/cms/lib4/NJ01000562/Centricity/Domain/602/aksum.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=January 3, 2023 |website=www.livingston.org}}</ref>

==Patristic Period==

[[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's collapse is that the language, which was preserved by 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.

== Middle Ages ==

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[[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]]'' (1302-13051302–1305). 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>

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.<ref>''Paradiso'' 26.133f.; Mazzocco, p. 178f.</ref>