Editing Sacred language (section)

==Concept==
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2024}}
A sacred language is often the language which was spoken and written in the society in which a religion's sacred texts were first set down; these texts thereafter become fixed and holy, remaining frozen and immune to later [[Linguistics|linguistic]] developments.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anttonen |first1=Veikko |title=The notion of "sacred" in language, history, culture and cognition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPwYBwAAQBAJ&dq=sacred+language+become+fixed+and+holy&pg=PA206 |access-date=August 3, 2024 |date=2008|publisher=Cambridge Scholars |isbn=978-1-4438-0876-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Saeidi |first1=Massoud Tossi |title=Religious language as natural-sacred language |url=https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/33044/1/176-190.pdf |website=Cyberleninka |access-date=August 3, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Millard |first1=Alan |title=Sacred Languages and Sacred Texts. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240586421 |website=Research Gate |publisher=The Journal of Theological Studies 52(1):124-129 |access-date=August 3, 2024 |doi=10.1093/jts/52.1.124 |date=2001}}</ref><ref name="taylorfrancis.com">{{cite book |last1=Bennet |first1=Brian P. |title=The Routledge Handbook of Language and Religion |chapter=Sacred Languages |chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003301271-4/sacred-languages-brian-bennett |website=Taylor Francis |access-date=August 3, 2024 |date=2023|pages=25–38 |doi=10.4324/9781003301271-4 |isbn=978-1-003-30127-1 }}</ref> (An exception to this is [[Lucumí language|Lucumí]], a ritual lexicon of the [[Cuba]]n strain of the [[Santería]] religion, with no standardized [[Logical form (linguistics)|form]].)

Once a language becomes associated with religious worship, its believers may ascribe virtues to the language of worship that they would not give to their native tongues.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} In the case of sacred texts, there is a fear of losing authenticity and accuracy by a translation or re-translation, and difficulties in achieving acceptance for a new version of a text. A sacred language is typically vested with a solemnity and dignity that the vernacular lacks. Consequently, the training of [[clergy]] in the use of a sacred language becomes an important cultural investment, and their use of the tongue is perceived to give them access to a body of knowledge that untrained [[Laity|laypeople]] cannot (or should not) access.

Because sacred languages are ascribed with virtues that the vernacular is not seen to have,<ref name="taylorfrancis.com"/> these typically preserve characteristics lost in the course of language development. In some cases, the sacred language is a [[Extinct language|dead language]], while in others, it may simply reflect [[archaism|archaic]] forms of a [[living language]]. For instance, 17th-century elements of the [[English language]] remain current in [[Protestantism|Protestant Christian]] worship through the use of the ''[[King James Version|King James Bible]]'' from 1611, or older versions of the [[Anglican]] ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]''. In more extreme cases, the language has changed so much from the language of the [[sacred text]]s that the liturgy is barely comprehensible without special training. For example, the [[Latin liturgical rites|liturgy]] of the [[Latin Church|Roman Catholic Church]] remained in [[Latin]] after the [[Third Council of Tours|Council of Tours in 813]] ordered preaching in [[Romance languages|local Romance]] or German, because Latin was no longer understood. Similarly, [[Old Church Slavonic]] is incomprehensible to speakers of modern [[Slavic languages]], unless they study it.

Sacred languages are distinct from [[divine language]]s, which are languages ascribed to the divine (i.e. God or gods) and may not necessarily be natural languages.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} The concept, as expressed by the name of a script, for example in ''[[Devanagari|Dēvanāgarī]]'', the name of a script that roughly means "[script] of the [[Prayagraj|city of gods]]", and is used to write many [[Languages of India|Indian languages]].