Adamic language
The Adamic language is a term for the hypothetical language believed by some to have been spoken by all humans from the creation of Adam until the time of the Tower of Babel (as related in the Bible). In previous centuries, many scholars believed that the Adamic language was Biblical Hebrew, and that all languages are descended from it. Comparative linguistics has shown however that Hebrew cannot be the ancestor of the world's languages.
Jewish belief holds that while Biblical Hebrew was indeed the language first spoken by man, other languages are not derived from it, but were rather invented brand new (by God) during the tower of Babel incident. Hebrew is not an ancestor to most of the worlds languages, and neither is any other language. The whole concept of an Adamic language as an ancestor is an error, even though Biblical Hebrew is the Adamic language. (Defined as the language spoken from creation till the time of Tower of Babel.)
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The Adamic language in Mormonism
In Mormonism, the Adamic language has been thought by some Latter Day Saints to be the language of God. Though different from Hebrew, the Hebrew language was thought to contain remnants of this ancient language, including the words Elohim and Jehovah. According to Joseph Smith, Jr.'s translation of the Bible, this language was "pure and undefiled". (Book of Moses 6:6).
Some early leaders of the Latter Day Saint movement, including founder Joseph Smith, Jr. (JD 2:342), and Latter-day Saint leaders Brigham Young (HC 1:297) and Elizabeth Ann Whitney (7 Woman's Exponent 83 (Nov. 1, 1878)) claimed to have received several words in the Adamic language in revelations. Some Latter Day Saints believe that the Adamic language will be restored as the universal language of humankind at the end of the world.
The name of the Mormon settlement "Adam-ondi-Ahman" in Daviess County, Missouri, U.S., is supposedly in the Adamic language. Other words thought by some Mormons to derive from the Adamic language include deseret ("honey bee", see Ether 2:3), Ahman ("God"), son Ahman ("Son of God", see LDS D&C 78:20, 95:17), sons Ahman ("sons of God"), and shelem ("height", see Ether 3:1). Nauvoo ("beautiful") is also often popularly attributed to Adamic, but it is actually a Sephardi Hebrew word (Standard Hebrew נאוו navu).
See also
Reference
- John S. Robertson, 1 Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "Adamic Language".