Editing Adamic language (section)

{{Short description|Language spoken by Adam in the Garden of Eden}}
{{redirect|Adamic}}
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[[File:Adam naming the animals. Etching. Wellcome V0034186.jpg|thumb|Adam naming the animals as described in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]. In some interpretations, he uses the “Adamic language” to do so.]]
The '''Adamic language''', according to [[Jews|Jewish]] tradition (as recorded in the ''[[midrash]]im'') and some [[Christians]], is the language spoken by [[Adam]] (and possibly [[Eve]]) in the [[Garden of Eden]]. It is variously interpreted as either the language used by [[God]] to address Adam (the [[divine language]]), or the language invented by Adam with which he named all things (including Eve), as in the [[Genesis creation narrative|second Genesis creation narrative]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|2:19|KJV}}).

In the [[Middle Ages]], various Jewish commentators held that Adam spoke [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], a view also addressed in various ways by the late medieval Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri]]. In the [[early modern period]], some authors continued to discuss the possibility of an Adamic language, some continuing to hold to the idea that it was Hebrew, while others such as [[John Locke]] were more skeptical. According to [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian]] and [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Eritrean]] traditions, the ancient [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]] of [[Geʽez]] is the language of Adam, the first and original language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Is 'Ge'ez' the original language of humanity? {{!}} Ethiopia The Kingdom of God |url=https://ethiopiathekingdomofgod.org/content/%E2%80%98geez%E2%80%99-original-language-humanity |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=ethiopiathekingdomofgod.org}}</ref> More recently, a variety of [[Mormon]] authors have expressed various opinions about the nature of the Adamic language.