Kircher: Turris Babel (1679)

OF CHAPTERS.

of the languages and customs that flourished among various peoples and different nations. 132

III. Concerning the variety and multitude of numbers that were born from the confusion of tongues and the division of nations. 133

ANALOGY of the deeds performed by the first patriarchs of the world, parallel to the deeds of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. The author is comparing Biblical figures like Noah or Ham to Egyptian deities, a common practice in 17th-century syncretism. 136

IV. Concerning the primeval imposition of names. 145

V. Which was the first of all languages, and of what sort it was. 148

VI. Concerning the characters of the Samaritan language, and whether they are truly Assyrian or Hebrew. 152

§. 1. Decision of the dispute regarding the Assyrian or Hebrew and the Samaritan character. 153

COMBINATORY TABLE, in which the forms of the primeval characters are shown according to the most approved authors, along with the successive propagation through time of all those which took their origin from them; from which it is clearly deduced that all alphabets of languages hold within themselves some traces of the ancient letters. 157

Exposition of the preceding Table. 158

§ 2. Concerning the shekels of the Hebrews marked with the Samaritan character. original: "siclis" ibid.

VII. Concerning the origin of letters and writing. 162

VIII. Concerning the wonderful power of the Hebrew language shining forth in the meanings of things, which Adam possessed by infusion. The belief that Adam did not learn language but received it directly from God. 164

Combinations of meanings which lie hidden under the names of animals. 168

IX. Concerning the mystical letters of the Copts, whose language is one of the primary languages. 172

Borrowed from the Hebrews. 176

The primeval construction of Egyptian letters, and the instruction made by Tautus or Hermes Trismegistus. original: "Mercurio Trismegisto" 177

X. Concerning the Phoenician language, one of the primary languages. 184

TABLE, in which a comparison is established between the Samaritan characters and the Ionic and Coptic or Egyptian ones. 190

An example of an inscription of Ionic letters carved into stone by the ancient Greeks. 191

SECTION II. Concerning the primary languages, which they call "mothers," which are still surviving and in use after the Babylonian confusion. 193

CHAP. I. Concerning the Hebrew language, the first of all languages. ibid.

II. Concerning the Chaldean language, one of the primary languages. 194

III. Concerning the Samaritan or Phoenician language. 196

IV. Concerning the Syriac language. 197

V. Concerning the Arabic language. 198

VI. Concerning the Ethiopic language. 199

VII. Concerning the Persian or Elamite language. 201

VIII. Concerning the Egyptian or Coptic language, which we also call the Old Pharaonic. 203

IX. Concerning the Armenian language. 204

SECTION III. Concerning the primary languages of Europe and their properties. 206

CAP. I. Concerning the origin of the Greek language. ibid.

II. Concerning the origin, antiquity, corruption, and restoration of the Latin language. 209

III. Concerning the various quality, vicissitude, and increase of the Latin language. 210

The inscription of the Rostral Tablet produced in the ancient Latin language. Refers to the Columna Rostrata, a monument celebrating a naval victory over Carthage. ibid.

The inscription of the Rostral Column. 211

IV. Concerning the origin, propagation, and corruption of the Germanic language. 212

The Imperial Germanic language. ibid.

V. Concerning the internal languages of the Northern regions. 214

VI. Concerning the Illyrian, Dalmatian, and Slavonic languages and their daughters. 215

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE of the years after the flood, by which the rise and growth of languages is explained. 216

VII. Whether the roots of languages can be found to constitute a certain universal language. 218

221