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Adamic language

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The Adamic language is, according to Mormonic traditions, the language spoken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adamic is typically identified with either the language used by God to address Adam, or the language invented by Adam (Book of Genesis 2:19).

Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, in his version of the Bible, declared the Adamic language to have been "pure and undefiled".[1] Some Latter Day Saints believe it to be the language of God.[2] Though different from Hebrew, the Hebrew language was thought to contain remnants of this ancient language, including the words Elohim and Jehovah.[unverified]

Some other early Mormon leaders, including Brigham Young,[3] Orson Pratt[4] and Elizabeth Ann Whitney[5] claimed to have received several words in the Adamic language in revelations. Some Latter Day Saints believe that the Adamic language is the "pure language" spoken of by Zephaniah[6] and that it will be restored as the universal language of humankind at the end of the world.[7][8][9]

Mormon Apostle Orson Pratt declared that "Ahman", part of the name of the settlement "Adam-ondi-Ahman" in Daviess County, Missouri, was the name of God in the Adamic language.[4]

The Mormon Endowment prayer circle once included use of the words "Pay Lay Ale",[10] which adherents believed were Adamic words meaning "Oh God, hear the words of my mouth".[11] The untranslated words are no longer used in temple ordinances and have been replaced by the English version.[12] Some think that the "Pay Lay Ale" sentence is derived from Hebrew sentence "pe le-El", 'mouth to God'.[12]

Other words thought by some Mormons to derive from the Adamic language include deseret ("honey bee", see Ether 2:3, but some Template:Who argue "deseret" can be traced to the Egyptian word dsrt, which in fact refers to the honey bee), and Ahman ("God"). SomeTemplate:Who 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,[13] but no copies of that book have been found.

Because all languages grew from the original language, traces of it are left in most of them that people can instantly understand. Examples that can be read instantly are at www.originallanguage.blogspot.com

References[edit]

  1. Book of Moses 6:6.
  2. John S. Robertson, "Adamic Language", in Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: Macmillan) 1:18–19.
  3. Brigham Young, "History of Brigham Young", Millennial Star, vol. 25, no. 28, p. 439 (1863-07-11), cited in History of the Church 1:297, footnote (Young prays in the Adamic tongue).
  4. 4.0 4.1 Journal of Discourses 2:342 (God = "Ahman"; Son of God = "Son Ahman"; Men = "Sons Ahman"; Angel = "Anglo-man").
  5. Woman's Exponent 7:83 (1 November 1878) (Whitney sings a hymn in the Adamic tongue).
  6. Zephaniah Template:bibleverse-nb
  7. Oliver Cowdery, "The Prophecy of Zephaniah", Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 18, p. 142 (March 1834).
  8. Bruce R. McConkie (1966, 2d ed.). Mormon Doctrine (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft) p. 19.
  9. Ezra Taft Benson (1988). Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft) p. 93.
  10. Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, The Mormon Murders (New York: St. Martins's Press, 1988) ISBN 0312934106, p. 69. "the sign of the Second Token [is] raising both hands and then lowering them while repeating the incantation "Pay Lay Ale" three times"
  11. 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" including "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)."
  12. 12.0 12.1 "Current Mormon Temple Ceremony Now Available", Salt Lake City Messenger, no. 76, November 1990.
  13. Moses 6:5, 46.