# What language was spoken before God destroyed the Tower of Babel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465 "2004-05-04T14:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smootman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@smootman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smootman)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/1 "2004-05-04T14:32:04Z")
Is there any speculation on the language used by humans before God destroyed the so-called Tower of Babel? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/2 "2004-05-04T14:41:51Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/3 "2004-05-04T14:44:18Z")
The Adamic language is held to have been spoken prior to the destruction of the Tower of Babel. Now there’s two assumptions here. One, that there was a God and hence a single point of humanity through Adam, and two, that there was a Tower of Babel. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/4 "2004-05-04T14:51:43Z")
They spoke Everybodytalk. Since there were no alternatives, people had no basis for comparison or contrast, or even the idea of “language”. “What’s language?” “It’s what you’re saying now.” “I’m saying words. Language is words?” “No, no – it’s much more than that. There’s grammar and parts of speech and a whole lot more. Imagine if you used a different word for “teeth””. “Why would I do that? Nobody would know what I meant.” “Geez! Do I have to hit you over the head with a ziggurat?” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/5 "2004-05-04T15:15:47Z")
In the writings of Herodotus, it is reported that King Psammetichus (of Egypt) wished to know what was the original human language; reasoning that people would speak it spontaneously if they were never taught anything else, he locked two babies away and commanded that they were never spoken to by the servants tending them; he concluded that the original language was Phrygian because the first recognisable noise they made was something that sounded like \*_Bekos_ - the Phrygian word for bread. It has been speculated, though, that the noise they were making was just an emulation of the bleating of sheep, heard through a window. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/6 "2004-05-04T15:50:42Z")
I imagine it will come as no surprise that the Midrash and Talmud say it was Hebrew. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/7 "2004-05-04T16:05:14Z")
French. Which is why nobody of any great importance speaks it today. Next question. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/8 "2004-05-04T16:07:25Z")
The idea that Hebrew was the root language of man is long-standing. For example, C Columbus took some (converted) Jews to America with him, since it was thought that Hebrew would be reasonably close to Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/9 "2004-05-04T16:14:22Z")
> [@](#): > > I am not like the lady of the court of Versailles who says “It’s a shame that the whole tower of Babel enterprise has produced confusion of the languages. Except for that, everyone in the world would speak French.” > –Voltaire (1767) I have read in Poliakov’s _The Aryan Myth_ that some German intellectuals of the 18th or 19th centuries had a long-running debate on whether Adam spoke Hebrew or German. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/10 "2004-05-04T16:37:14Z")
From [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 Hebrew, and that all languages are descended from it. Today, because of the differences between the major branches of human language, most linguists doubt that such a Proto-World language existed. Sure its not Britannica but its the best I can find right now. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/11 "2004-05-04T16:42:18Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > The idea that Hebrew was the root language of man is long-standing. Indeed. C. M. Millward’s _Biography of the English Language_ (which I happen to have because of a class I’m taking) mentions it a couple of times. > [@](#): > > In medieval and Renaissance Europe, the pervasive influence of Christianity and the story of Creation gave rise ot the theory that the original language of all humanity was Hebrew and that all other languages were ultimately derived from it. > [@](#): > > By the sixteenth century, numerous scholar accepted the relatedness of the Romance languages and their common descent from Latin. Nonetheless, progress continued to be hampered by the obsession with Hebrew as the source of all languages ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/12 "2004-05-04T22:57:51Z")
Esperanto…or maybe Klingon. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/13 "2004-05-04T23:35:33Z")
> [@](#): > > What language was spoken before God destroyed the Tower of Babel? English. Cite you say? How’s God for a cite? From the King James Bible (the true Word of God): > [@](#): > > Gen 11.3 > > And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. There are more examples. Clearly English is the origianl language, which is probably why it was good enough for Jesus. [http://wyllie.lib.virginia.edu:8086/perl/toccer-new?id=KjvGene.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=11&division=div1](http://wyllie.lib.virginia.edu:8086/perl/toccer-new?id=KjvGene.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=11&division=div1) ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/14 "2004-05-05T01:24:52Z")
Basque? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/15 "2004-05-05T01:36:47Z")
Arabic of course. The Quran is the eternal Word of Allah, and He speaks in Arabic. The fact that this was revealed to us by an Arab should not cause the faithful to doubt. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/16 "2004-05-05T01:45:08Z")
Actually, no. There is no Islamic teaching that God speaks Arabic. The Koran was revealed to Arabic-speakers and so it was written in that language. In order to prevent the many problems with translation, taking the holy writings into other languages has always been discouraged. (But rarely prohibited.) It is as silly to say God speaks Arabic as to say He speaks English, or even (gasp) French. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/17 "2004-05-05T02:25:26Z")
I think you need to go read _Snow Crash_ (warning, Sci Fi) which somewhat deeply discusses the whole subject. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/18 "2004-05-05T04:09:18Z")
Proto-Indo-European? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/19 "2004-05-05T04:10:55Z")
> [@Enola Straight](#): > > Proto-Indo-European? Pre-Babylonian? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2004, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465/20 "2004-05-05T05:37:49Z")
Nothing in Genesis 11 says that God destroyed the Tower of Babel. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-was-spoken-before-god-destroyed-the-tower-of-babel/243465.md?page=2)