Wednesday, May 03, 2017

What language did Adam speak?

In case you have ever wondered, William Whitaker is confident:


“The Hebrew is the most ancient of all languages, and was that which alone prevailed in the world before the deluge and the erection of the Tower of Babel. For it was this that Adam used, and all men before the flood, as is manifest from the scriptures, and as the Fathers testify.” (p112) citing Augustine City of God Lib. Xvi. c. 11. Also Jerome on Zephaniah 3, also Epistle 142


(Disputation on Holy Scripture)

1 comment:

Thomas Renz said...

I remember many years ago a Syrian-Orthodox friend from the Tur Abdin region observing that Adam's pun in the exclamation "she will be called isha [woman] because from ish [man] she was taken" does not work in Aramaic. He was puzzled about that, assuming as he did that Adam would have spoken Aramaic.