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The Adamic language is a term for the hypothetical proto-language believed spoken by Adam and Eve in paradise, either identical with the language used by God to address Adam, or invented by Adam (Genesis 2:19).
Medieval and early modern discussions
Traditional Jewish exegesis such as Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 38) assumes that Adam spoke Hebrew because the names he gives Eve - "Isha" (Genesis 2:23) and "Chava" (Genesis 3:20) - only make sense in Hebrew ("Isha" is from "Ish", man, and "Chava" is from "Chai", life).
In modern linguistics
According to Ernst Cassirer, The sixteenth- and seventeenth-century philosophers of language still supposed that phenomena of onomatopoeia offered the key to the basic and original language of mankind, the lingua adamica. The modern concept corresponding to that of the Adamic language is that of the Proto-World language, but rather than positing divine inspiration, linguists also assume that it arose from proto-linguistic forms of communication.
Recent treatments of a "language of Eden", such as the Edenics of Isaac E. Mozeson, suggested in his The Origin of Speeches: Intelligent Design in Language: From the Language of Eden to Our Babble After Babel, are in the realm of pseudoscience.
In Mormonism
Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS or Mormon church), in his translation of the Bible, declared the Adamic language to have been "pure and undefiled". Some Latter Day Saints believe it 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.
Some other early Mormon leaders, including Brigham Young, Orson Pratt and Elizabeth Ann Whitney 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.
Mormon leader Orson Pratt declared that name of the settlement "Adam-ondi-Ahman" in Daviess County, Missouri derived from the Adamic language.
The Mormon Endowment prayer circle once used the words "Pay Lay Ale" which the church believed were Adamic words meaning "Oh God, hear the words of my mouth". The untranslated words are no longer used in temple ceremonies, and have been replaced by the English version. In reality, "Pay Lay Ale" sentence is derived from Hebrew sentence "pe le-El", 'mouth to God'.
Other words thought by some Mormons to derive from the Adamic language include deseret ("honey bee", see Ether 2:3, but some argue "deseret" can be traced to the Egyptian word dsrt, which in fact refers to the honey bee), and Ahman ("God"). Some have also taken the word shelem to mean "height" (see Ether 3:1) though the passage states, "...which they called the mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height..." not necessarily implying that the word actually means "height," but more practically that the word has at least something to do with "exceeding height."
Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible refers to "The Book of Remembrance", written in Adamic, but no copies of that book have been found.
See also
Notes
- The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms I, p.191 (English translation, 1953).
- Book of Moses 6:6.
- John S. Robertson, 1 Encyclopedia of Mormonism, "Adamic Language"
- History of the Church 1:297 (Young prays in the Adamic tongue).
- Journal of Discourses 2:368 (God="Ahman"; Son of God="Son Ahman"; Men="Sons Ahman"; Angel="Anglo-man").
- Woman's Exponent 7:83 (1 November 1878) (Whitney sings a hymn in the Adamic tongue).
- (See Orson Pratt, J.D. 2:342.)
- "Next came the part of the ceremony devoted to the higher Melchizedek Priesthood with its special garments (white robe; white, turban-like cap with a bow over the right ear; apron; and white moccasins) and more complicated signs and token like the Sign of the Nail (cupping the left hand and bringing it forward to form a square while placing the right thumb over the left hip); the Patriarchal Grip, or the Sure Sign of the Nail (interlocking little fingers); and the sign of the Second Token (raising both hands and then lowering them while repeating the incantation "Pay Lay Ale" three times)." Steven Naifeh & Gregory White Smith, The Mormon Murders, St. Martins's Press, New York, 1988, ISBN 0-312-93410-6, p. 69.
- Tamra Jean Braithwaite, A Mormon Odyssey, Xlibris Co., 2003, ISBN 1413418783, p. 212.
- "In 1990, several significant portions of the endowment ceremony performed worldwide in Mormon temples were eliminated: the wording: "even at the peril of your life" and "The representation of the penalties indicates ways in which life may be taken," was deleted. Women no longer have to swear an oath and covenant of obedience to their husbands; a segment showing a Christian minister working hand-in-hand with Lucifer to deceive mankind for profit by teaching orthodox Christian doctrine was removed; three morbid gestures that imply Mormon patrons will lose their lives through having their throats slashed, their hearts torn out, and their abdomens cut open if they reveal temple secrets; the chanting in unison of "Pay Lay Ale, Pay Lay Ale, Pay Lay Ale" (supposedly meaning Oh God, hear the words of my mouth in the Adamic language) and the Five Points of Fellowship in which initiates embrace The Lord (a male temple worker) through openings in the Veil of the temple" Tamra Jean Braithwaite, A Mormon Odyssey, Xlibris Co., 2003, ISBN 1413418783, p. 212.
- Salt Lake City Messenger Current Mormon Temple Ceremony Now Available
- Moses 6:5, 46.