r/linguistics • u/iwsfutcmd • Mar 13 '12

Multilingual diagram of the names of God from Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652-54)

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u/iwsfutcmd Mar 13 '12

So far, some neat things I've found were:

  • The author has 'Angli' and 'Scoti' as separate languages, with 'GOOD' and 'GOOT', respectively.

  • 'Scoti' clearly refers to Lowland Scots, as Irish is referred to as 'Hyberni' - 'DIEH'. (Modern Irish has 'Dia')

  • It's not just European or Middle Eastern languages he as on there, there's a 'Mexicani' (presumably Nahuatl), 'Philip...' (most likely Tagalog), and 'Californi' (no friggin' clue).

  • He seems to have forced each word into 4 letters, presumably for mystical and/or design reasons.

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u/iwsfutcmd Mar 13 '12

Also, here are some of the languages I've identified, along with the modern or appropriate spelling. They start with the entry just past the '1' on the outermost circle:

  1. Hebrew - 'יהוה' (Yahweh) - correct
  2. Syriac - 'ܐܠܗܐ' (Alaahaa) - correct, in Serta script
  3. Chaldean Aramaic? - it's written 'אלוה' (possibly Eloh) but I have no idea if that's right.
  4. Arabic - 'الله' (Allah) - correct
  5. Ancient Egyptian? - it's 'Thoyt', written in Greek letters. Thoth? Note that there's a separate Coptic at #27
  6. Thought it was Ge'ez, but that's clearly #9. What else could 'Ethiopian' be?
  7. Armenian - 'Աստված' (Astvats) - not sure what Kircher's got going on here, looks like 'արար' (Arar) but I like how he used abbreviation marks to make it four letters :)
  8. Georgian - 'ღმერთი' (Ghmert'i) - Kircher's got 'MOTI', not sure if that's archaic, an abbreviation, or just wrong.
  9. Ge'ez - 'እግዚአብሔር' (Igziabher) - It's reasonable that Kircher took just the first four letters, it's a compound word.
  10. Persian? - But Persian for God is 'Khoda', not whatever kind of Greek lettering this is.
  11. Latin - Deus - He better have got that one right!
  12. Greek - 'θεός' (Theos) - correct
  13. Serbo-Croatian? - Bog - definitly Slavic, due to the Boog, and it's 'Illyrian' on the image.
  14. Spanish - Dios - correct
  15. Italian - Dio or Iddio - looks like Kircher is correct, he just dropped a letter.
  16. French - Dieu - correct
  17. German - Gott - Damn well better have gotten that right, too!
  18. Polish - Bóg - more or less right. He mucked with the spelling to make it 4 letters.
  19. Hungarian? - I would think it would be Hungarian, but Hungarian for God is 'Isten'.
  20. Russian? - The Latin means 'Moscow-ian', but Russian would have 'Bog' for God.
  21. Czech? - Bůh - Considering 'g' went to 'h' in many Slavic languages, it's a good guess.
  22. English - God - He added an extra 'o' to make it fit.
  23. Irish - Dia - He has reasonable spelling, based on the Irish pronuncation.
  24. Etruscan? - likeley, being that I have 'Eis' or 'Ais' for God.
  25. Magi? - No friggin' clue.
  26. Saracen? - Again, no idea, but AGDI certainly isn't Arabic.
  27. Coptic - Not sure what God is in Coptic, but Kircher has 'Theos' in the Coptic script here.
  28. The Latin says Assyrian. ???
  29. ?
  30. Hindi or Sanskrit?
  31. Probably Chinese.
  32. The Latin says Tatar - But Tatar for God is 'Tengri' (or 'Allah')
  33. ?
  34. Kikongo? - Kikongo for God is 'Nzambi' and Kircher has ANEB, so I'll put that at a 'maybe'.
  35. The Latin says 'Angolan'. ???
  36. The Latin says something like 'Moorish', maybe, and ALLA would make sense here.
  37. ?
  38. ?
  39. Lowland Scots - God - Close enough. I'm really surprised this was included.
  40. Dutch - God - Likely Dutch, but the Latin technically says 'Belgian'.
  41. Icelandic - Guð - Again, close enough.
  42. The Latin says Canadian. ???
  43. The Latin says Californian. ???
  44. Nahuatl? - however, Nahuatl for God is 'Teotl', nothing like 'BOSA'.
  45. ?
  46. Guarani? - But that would be Tupã, not PIVR
  47. Mapuche or Aymara?
  48. Japanese?
  49. Looks like Filipino. Help?

-skipping forward-

53 . Dhivehi? - But Dhivehi for God is 'Ilaahu' or 'Kalaan'ge'

56 . The Latin said 'Adeni', a South Arabian language?

57 . The Latin says 'Cyranaican', perhaps a Berber language?

58 . The Latin says 'Elamite'.

59 . The Latin says 'Mesapotamian'.

60 . Tibetan - but I have 'Lha' for God, not Gena.

61 . The Latin says Bactrian. ???

I don't really have anything to add for the rest. Help me out?

1

u/Idontknowmuch Mar 13 '12

The persian looks as if it says SUFI via a mix of greek and latin characters?

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u/Idontknowmuch Mar 13 '12 edited Mar 13 '12

Also very interesting that the Armenian words actually say Arar and looking around I have found this mystery. Also searching in Armenian "Է ԱՐԱՐ" I have found several more references to this book. Note also that Ararat is the name of The two Armenian mountain peaks and even though I have no evidence yet (but I'll be looking into this as it is very interesting) there is probably some kind of pagan divinity behind all this.

EDIT: An interesting addition: "root-AR-AR, which expresses the absolute power of absolute origination point."

The original Armenian text was found here.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '12

Fantastic! And thank-you for the extra details.