page_title: Mythical origins of language
section_title: Hebrew Bible
hierarchical_section_title: Mythical origins of language / Hebrew Bible
context_page_description: There have been many accounts of the origin of language in the world's mythologies and other stories pertaining to the origin of language, the development of language and the reasons behind the diversity in languages today.
  These myths have similarities, recurring themes, and differences, having been passed down through oral tradition. Some myths go further than just storytelling and are religious, with some even having a literal interpretation even today. Recurring themes in the myths of language dispersal are floods and catastrophes. Many stories tell of a great deluge or flood which caused the peoples of the Earth to scatter over the face of the planet. Punishment by a god or gods for perceived wrongdoing on the part of man is another recurring theme.
  Myths regarding the origins of language and languages are generally subsumed or footnoted into larger creation myths, although there are differences. Some tales say a creator endowed language from the beginning, others count language among later gifts, or curses.
context_section_description: The Hebrew Bible attributes the origin of language per se to humans, with Adam being asked to name the creatures that God had created.
  The Tower of Babel passage from Genesis tells of God punishing humanity for arrogance and disobedience by means of the confusion of tongues.
  And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
  Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.  (Genesis 11:5-6, KJV translation)
  This became the standard account in the European Middle Ages, reflected in medieval literature such as the tale of Fénius Farsaid.
caption: The "confusion of tongues" by Gustave Doré, a woodcut depicting the Tower of Babel from Abrahamic myth.
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