Language: Babel, the First Tongue and the Lost Scripts

Where did language come from, and why are there so many? The old stories answer both questions at once: there was one tongue, and then something split it. In my research the theme runs from Babel to Oahspe, from Donnelly’s alphabet to the Zulu sangomas, and into living languages that survived the splitting. These are the pages where it comes up.

One language at Babel

On The Tower of Babel: Nimrod, Enlil, Stargates and Other Views I set the Genesis account next to other readings of the tower. The verse that gives the place its name:

The same page follows the Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki, the image at the top of this page, as a possible model for the tower.

The Tree of Language

Oahspe has its own book on the subject. On The Book of Saphah the languages of the earth are drawn as a tree, with Panic as the first tongue and its branches spreading out into the languages of the continents. I find it one of the strangest and most detailed attempts in my sources to map how one tongue became many.

The alphabet of Atlantis

Ignatius Donnelly took the question to Atlantis. On The Origin of Our Alphabet he argues that the Phoenician alphabet and the Maya signs share a common source, and he reminds the reader that Plato has the Atlanteans engraving their laws on columns of bronze. Writing, in his view, came out of the drowned island.

Language as a loss

The darkest version I have collected comes from Credo Mutwa. On Atlantis-like lost civilizations, with a focus on the claims of Credo Mutwa the Chitauri bring language to humans who until then communicated by telepathy, and in doing so they weaken humanity’s psychic abilities. Speech is not a gift there but a cage. On Anuki language I look at a very different claim, of a language connected with the Anunnaki.

Scripts nobody can read

On What language is Linear A the Minoan script of Crete is still undeciphered, a written language whose sound we have lost. On Basque language history and genetic studies Basque stands alone in Europe, unrelated to the languages around it.

Languages that carry teachings

On Nahuatl an indigenous language of Mexico I look at the language of the Aztecs, which is still spoken in Mexico today. On Losing Teachings as Language Changes a Navajo elder explains how teachings fade when the words that carried them fall out of use. And on Light Language – Activate Your Soul’s Voice the idea turns the other way, toward a spoken language of the soul.

Related pages

• The Tower of Babel: Nimrod, Enlil, Stargates and Other Views
• The Book of Saphah
• The Origin of Our Alphabet
• Anuki language
• What language is Linear A
• Basque language history and genetic studies
• Nahuatl an indigenous language of Mexico
• Losing Teachings as Language Changes
• Genesis 11 – Tower of Babel
• Shinar: The Plain of Babel, Sumer and Cholula
• Babel Story of Cholula

For every page I tagged with language, see the language tag archive.