The Languages of The Table of Nations

Genesis 10 says the Nations were divided according to their Languages, not bloodlines or DNA Haplogroups or geopolitical alliances, and then Genesis 11 explains how and why that happened.. If you study what the word "Ethnos" meant to the Ancient Greeks the same implication exists, language more then anything else decided what an "Ethnos" was, hence Barbarian originally meaning "non Greek speakers".  There is also Biblical Support for what god you worship being equally a factor, but that's where Liturgical Languages come in.

On the subject of Japheth, almost every Liturgical Language of the Eastern Orthodox Church is Indo-European, the only exception is the Georgian Language interestingly, Georgia's ancient demographic relationships to the lands around it are uniquely complicated.   

The big issue for trying to define Languages Biblically however is that the language of the ancient Canaanites is in the same Language Family as Hebrew, and very closely related in fact.  Thus modern Linguistic Scholars classify it as a Semitic Language.

When Abraham and his nephew Lot left Mesopotamia for Canaan and then lived there a few generations before the captivity in Egypt, I think it's highly probable they dropped the language of their homeland and adopted the language of the Canaanites, or became Bilingual.  And Isaiah 19 does in fact call the Language the Israelites and other YHWH worshipers were speaking the "Language of Canaan", so the Hebrew Bible itself defined this Language as belonging to Canaan not Heber.  It's not till the New Testament during Greco-Roman times we start seeing that language called Hebrew.

Basically I think Abraham's family did the same thing Diaspora Jews of the Christian Era have repeatedly done, developed a modified form of the language of the people they sojourned among.

The same thing happened with the Philistines, they did not originate as descendants of Canaan but wound up speaking a Canaanite language after settling in the Gaza strip. 

So the Language Family called Semitic today I think is Biblically Canaanite.  But scholars also use Canaanite for a specific subgroup of that family (the one that includes Hebrew), that sub group I shall call Sidonian since that Tribe had the most influence over that immediate area.

Looking at that break down of the Semitic Language Family I got from Wikipedia, it's clear that the Abrahamic Tribes came to dominate some entire Branches.  Nabatean and Aramaic both descend from Ishmael, Nabatean from Naboth, Kedar, Tema and Dumah, and than Aramaic from Hadad who was the name of the Patron deity of the earliest Aramaic speaking pagans.  And then Arabic originated among the sons of Abraham by Keturah, perhaps chiefly Dedan son of Jokshan..

How can Genesis 10 Aram not be the father of the Aramaic Language?  Well we know from Deuteronomy 26:5 that Abraham was sometimes called Aramean even though his direct Patralineal descent was from Arphaxad, I think some Ishmaelite Tribes may have had a similar idea.  

One detail of that Map is out of date and that's implying Aramaic first emerged in Mesopotamia, linguistic scholars now agree it first emerged in the general area of Damascus.  The city of Damascus proper wasn't truly founded till after 2000 BC and thus well after when I place even the latest events of Genesis.  So I think it was Ishmaelites who founded that city and named it after the Damascus of Genesis 14-15 possibly because it was in the same area.  Damascus is included in what I interpret to be the inheritance given to Ishmael, which is all of the Trans-Jordan part of what was Promised to Abraham.  Zobah is probably where these Ishmaelites of Hadad lived first however, and then 1 Kings 11 explains how an offshoot of their civilization became a King of Damascus.

We know from 1 Chronicles 5 that the Jetur and Naphish tribes of Ishmael also resided in South West Syria, the region known as Iturea in New Testament times.

Ugarit I suspect was the original city of the Girgashites, and then the Amorites are who you'd assume they are, The Torah does hint a few times that the Amorite Language is distinct from the Sidonian Canaanites.  Eteocyptriot if it's Semitic (there is dispute about it) may just come from Ugarites who colonized Cyrpus.  [Update: my perspective on the Girgashites has changed, and my view on Ugarit now is them being an Amorite colony.]

Ebla and the Hamathite are the same in my current theory.  Ironically the name Akkad itself is not Semitic, that city was originally Sumerian.  It was Sargon's Empire that imposed this Semitic Language on all of Mesopotamia, and that makes me suspect Azupiranu was the actual Akkadian name of Akkad.  Actually I think I should just identify the Hamathites as the ancestor of the entire Eastern branch.

The South Semites descended from various groups who traveled South and their history may be the subject of their own post in the future.  But it is worth noting that Josephus said Abraham's children by Keturah were given Arabia Felix. I think the entire South Semite region of that map is what the Egyptians called the Land of Punt.  Still I do think there may have been Canaanites who traveled there first.  Actually I have decided to identity the Sinite with the South Semitic branch because of the Sinim in Isaiah 49:12.

Qahtan is traditionally identified with Joktan, James A. Montgomery however has pointed out that the etymology of that doesn't work.  My theory that it refers to descent form Keturah isn't perfect either, but it at least begins with the right letter.  So the Sheba of Yeman I do now unlike in the past identify with the Keturite Sheba.  I also believe the Mineans of ancient Yemen were the descendants of Teman son of Eliphaz son of Esau.

Spiritual/Religious descent from the Canaanites is dead, any modern Neo-Pagan groups using Canaanite names for their gods have no actual continuity with them.  So the Churches who's Liturgical Rites are East Syraic/Aramaic I view as the Eschatological Assyria of Isaiah 11 and 19 alongside the Coptic Churches as Mizraim.

If the Semitic Language Family is Canaan then that fits it's larger Afroasiatic Family being Ham, with Mizraim as Egyptian, Cush the Cushitic Languages and the Berber Languages as Phut. 

"What about the Afroasiatic Families that don't fit into one of those four categories?" You may ask?  Maybe Ham did have more offspring then the four the Table of Nations specified, after all he does have the least mentioned.  Or maybe they can be explained by named Grandsons of Ham via Mizraim and Cush?   I also agree with those linguistic scholars who argue for adding the Nilo-Saharan languages to the Afro-Asiatic family.  Some linguists do think Chadic languages are closely related to Berber, which can make them also Phut.  And some think Omotic can be classified as Cushitic.

The Abyssinians (modern Ethiopia and Eritrea in Africa) are people speaking South Semitic Languages closely related to those of Ancient Yemen, but they were in antiquity surrounded by Cushetic speaking peoples on all sides.  I think they were the "Arabians that were near the Cushites" of 1 Chronicles 21:16 and that those captive wives and children of Jehoram (who I don't believe included any by Athaliah) may have became the actual ancestors of the Solomonic dynasty of Axum.

Another Biblical reference to this region may be the land "Beyond the rivers of Cush" in Isaiah 18, the rivers of Cush here I think are the rivers that flow into The Nile, what we call the White Nile, Blue Nile and the Atbarah also known as the Black Nile.

Some Canaanites may have came here first, certain Tribes in the region are traditionally believed to be Canaanite with three specific sons of Canaan cited.  However these are mostly tribes who spoke non Semitic Languages making me suspect the Abrahamites of the region often just called the local Heathens Canaanites, but it's still possible clans from those three sons were the first Semitic speakers in the region and their relationship to later groups was complicated.

The first Abrahamites of the region may have been Keturite Arabs, some scholars have speculated reasons to associate Epheh and Epher of Midian with Africa.  But I think some Edomite tribes may have came here too, cousins of Teman/Mineans.

What languages do I think descend from the non Abrahamic sons of Shem?  Well first of all Sumerian the language of Ur would probably be the language of the family of Arphaxad and perhaps others of Shem who lived in Mesopotamia (Abraham is also called an Aramean), and thus Sumer might have been named after Shem.  

And maybe the special language the Chaldean Magicians were using was actually Sumerian?  It could be the only reason the language we call Aramaic is called that is because of the assumption that the language being referred to in Daniel 2:4 is the same Language that the book is written in from that point till the end of chapter 7.

Elamite is the Language of Elam, yes that's right Elamite is not a Semitic Language but rather one seemingly unrelated to any other known languages.  Last year I made a post where I used that fact to justify making that Elam not Biblical Elam but I've now changed my mind on that.  Elamite may also be related to Dravidian according to some theories, and thus to Y Chromosome Haplogroup H, and thus maybe the modern Elamite Diaspora foretold by Jeremiah 49 are the Romani and related groups?

The Gutians have been theorized to descend from Aram's son Gether before. And I think the Lullubi could be of Aram's son Hul.  I also have a hunch the Hattic Language is Aram's son Mash. The Hurro-Uratian Language family including the Kassites could be the original language of the Assyrians and/or some Arameans before they adopted the Akkadian language.  Or maybe Lullubi is better positioned to be Asshur.

The Kartvelian language family including Georgian I think is Lud, since Y Haplogroup G ties the Georgians to Lydia implying they may descend from the original pre-Indo-Europeans of Lydia.  Or Lud could be another candidate for the Hattic Language.  Or Lud could be the other West Caucasian Language family.

Actually the above statement on Sumerian assumes the popular belief that Ur Kassidim was the Sumerian Ur.  I've increasingly come to favor a North of Harran location for Ur Kassidim.  Sumerian maybe simply was the Pre-Babel Language and the few people who kept the original language after the confusion were the ones who stayed in the general area.

The common theory on the Etymology of Eve/Havvah being the same as the Hurrian Goddess Hepat I find interesting.  It could be all or most other early Genesis figures had their names translated to an equivalent Semitic meaning but hers lacked an easy direct analogue so it was transliterated.  A Hurrian origin for Abraham would fit Urkesh being Ur Kassidim (but it could fit Ur being Urfa/Urshu later called Edessa as well).  That would make the Hurro-Uratian language family the one that comes from Peleg.  The Book of Jubilees says Arphaxad was allotted the region of Ararat itself, which is often identified with Urartu, the name of Aram/Arame is also associated with Urartu but I think that's the Aram of Genesis 22:21 not Genesis 10.  I also support the theory that the Kassadim/Chaldeans are the same people as the Kassites who's original language is theorized by some to have been of the Hurro-Urartian family, and I think they can be connected to the Chesed of Genesis 22:22.

Joktan's thirteen sons are a subject I need to completely rethink now.  I had made a post criticizing those who would place Joktan in the East rather then Yemen, but now I'm more open to that, maybe the Mormons are right about two Joktanite sons contributing to early Native American populations and giving his name to the Yucatan.  However the Mormon route would still be wrong, they would have to also contribute to Eat Asia.  Or maybe some did pass through Yemen then crossed the Bab-el-Mandeb and became ancestral to the non Afroasiatic Languages of Arica.

As a Young-Earth Creationist who still favors a Global Flood I would of course like to make Shem ancestral to all of the Languages that are neither Indo-European or Afroasiatic.  And even in the context of considering something similar to InspiringPhilosophy's view of the Flood but still more Literalist then him on other issues, we're really only allowed one Non-Noahtic Language, the Pre-Babel Language.

Some Hebrew Roots types may be hostile to the thesis of this post.  They are invested in Extra-Biblical traditions about Hebrew being the Pre-Flood language and becoming named after Heber when he didn't go along with Babel and/or Nimrod.  

And they could see the agenda behind arguing Abraham abandoned an earlier language for Hebrew as justifying Mainstream Gentile Christian Churches abandoning Semitic Languages for Indo-European ones.  And yes one of the lessons I think we should learn from this conclusion is that the true worship of YHWH is not tied to any single language.  But that's not what motived me to come to it.  I simply feel this is the most logical explanation of the evidence.

[As of early 2022 I'm now more iffy on the below Japheth theory I laid out]

Update June 2021: Japheth.

I still agree with Bill Cooper that the Indo-European Languages descent from Japheth, he seems to be a deified ancestor figure on both the Euro and Indo sides via Iapetos and Prajapati.

But I don't think only Indo-Europeans descend from Japheth.  In fact I'm starting to think the Proto-IndoEuropean Language was the original language of just one of Japheth's seven sons (or grandsons).  And that in the other nations named after sons of Japheth it was the Pre-IndoEuropeans who more directly descended from those sons before taking on the languages of their conquerors.

Tiras is often associated with the Indo-European Thracians but also with the non Indo-European Tyrsenians and Etruscans.  A Language related to those is known to have been spoken on pre-Hellenic Lemnos, and Greek Mythology says the earliest inhabitants of Lemnos were Thracians.  There were other Pre Indo-European languages in the Greek world, including EteoCypriot (which would be Kittim) and Minoan.

BTW I still believe Javan's least mentioned son should read Rodanim not Dodanim.  But instead of Rhodes I now think that's referring to the Rodon/Rhodan river in southern France.  So I think from the Rodanim came the mother language of both Basque and Aquitanian.

There were Pre Indo-Europeans inhabitants of Media like the Gutians and Lullubi.  My two above listed theories for Lullubi don't actually fit their geography, the parts of Modern Iraq they were in are still pretty far from proper Mesopotamia.

Genesis 10 seems to equate like 90% of Turkey and everything either West or North of Turkey with Japheth.  But none of the original languages spoken in Anatolia were Indo-European, even the Hittite homelands had non Indo-European inhabitants first.

And when you pay close attention to Greek Mythology there is good reason to doubt that the Hellenes primarily descended from Javan.  Javan is pretty well established to be equivalent to Ion and the Ionians.  But in the Greek mythical genealogy of the Hellenes Ion is a grandson of Hellen only by Adoption being actually fathered by Zeus.  There is also the fact that the Macedonians and Phrygians were not considered fellow Hellens even though their languages were very closely related.  It could be because those fellow descendants of the same Branch of Indo-European had done less mingling with the Javanites.

In Greek Mythology Hellen and his sisters descended from 2 sons of Iapetos.  But the one who was their direct Patrilineal Ancestor, Prometheus, was also mythically linked with the Caucasus.  The two most popular candidates for his specific place of imprisonment are one in far northern Georgia and one in Russia just north of Georgia.  Thing is quite a few sons/grandsons of Japheth have been tied to those Mountains and the lands around them.

The Georgians have local traditions that they descend from Meshach, Tubal and Togarmah.  They also specifically tie Togarmah to various East Caucasian Caspian tribes.  However for the most part the indigenous people those traditions refer to are NOT Indo-Europeans linguistically anyway.  Caspian is one of three Non Indo-European Language families referred to as Caucasian Languages, all three of which are represented in Georgia.

Secular Scholars of Linguistics and Ancient History today mostly believe the Indo-Europeans originated north of the Caucasus between the Black and Caspian Seas in modern Russia, the theory called the Kurgan Hypothesis.  This Kurgan region equates to the Western half of what Ancient Greek and Roman writers called Scythia.

Christ White recently talked about the inconsistencies between Josephus story of what Magog became the Scythians and what modern Scholars believe about the Scythians.  However he's not taking what those scholars believe back far enough.  The Scythians as a specific sub group of the Iranians started East of the Caspian Sea, but as Indo-Europeans they ultimately go back to this Kurgan region.  He also misunderstands what Josephus was saying.

Josephus is talking about the Japhethites as a whole when he speaks of migrating through Anatolia.  I do now consider Josephus's conclusion ultimately flawed.  But the point is Western Scythia was where Magog settled and that's why Josephus equated him with just the Scythians.  He places Magog exactly where the Indo-European Language Family was born.

If Magog can be identified with Prometheus, then that means the Judeo-Christian legend about Alexander sealing Gog and Magog north of the Caucasus could be an adaptation of the Greek legend of Prometheus being bound in the Caucasus.  I also think the name of the Caucasus could themselves come from Gog, the Hebrew letter for G sometimes becomes a K in Transliteration, and K not C is used in the oldest forms of the name of the Caucasus.  And the letter between the Gs in Gog in the Masoretic Hebrew text is usually more directly rendered in English as U rather then O.  The Hebrew spelling of Magog is just Gog with a Mem added at the start.  The latter Mem as a Prefix tends to carry the meaning of "from".  So in the context of this theory for Gog, Magog as a tribal name could mean people from the Caucasus.

It's not just other Japhetic nations the Indo-Europeans conquered and then either displaced or forced their languages on.  The Ancient Nation founded by Shem's son Lud/Lod also becomes Indo-European by the time we enter recorded history.  In Greek Mythology the original dynasty of Lydus was first replaced by sons of Herakles and then much later by Gyges.  And in much more recent times those of us from the European side have continued doing this to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Australia, and tribes in East Asia and even to our ancient Indo brethren.

Revelation 20's reference to "Gog and Magog" is an incomplete translation, the Greek text has an additional pronoun.  It should read "Gog and his Magog".