LatineEnglish
And Adam called all the living things by their names. VERSE 20.1
Appellauitq́ Adam nominibus suis cuncta animantia. VERS. 20.
HAEc nominum impositio declarat imperium & potestatem primi hominis in animantes, & perfectam eius scientiam animalium, excellentémque vim ac dignitatem rationis qua cunctis animalibus homo antecellit: rebus enim nomina ritè ponere rationis munus est non qualiscunque, sed scientia excellentis & sapientia perfectae. Licèt autem Moses Barcepha in eo libro quem de Paradiso edidit opinionem referat quorundam qui arbitrati sunt hanc impositionem nominum non esse reuera factam, sed per eam mysticè significatam esse rationis & imperij humani in animalia excellentiam, communis tamen & vera est Patrum Theologorúmque sententia, verè imposita fuisse animalibus nomina ab Adamo. Id enim tam apertè & explicatè Scriptura tradit, vt non modò negari, sed vel in dubium vocari sine flagitio non possit. Quid enim aliud significat Scriptura nisi hoc, cùm inquit: Adduxit Deus animalia ad Adam, vt videret quid vocaret ea: omne enim quod vocauit Adam animae viuentis, ipsum est nomen eius: appellauitq́ Adam nominibus suis cuncta animantia? Nimirum, superuacanea sunt argumenta vbi tam aperta sunt diuinae Scripturae verba. Et cùm haec narratio Mosis non minus sit historica quàm superiores, non minus etiam quàm illae secundùm propriam significationem vulgarémque vsum vocum interpretanda & intelligenda est.
This imposition of names declares the command and power of the first man over the living things, and his perfect knowledge of the animals, and the excellent force and dignity of the reason by which man surpasses all the animals: for to put names on things rightly is a function of a reason not of any kind, but of an excellent knowledge and a perfect wisdom. But although Moses Barcepha, in the book which he published on Paradise, reports the opinion of certain men who thought that this imposition of names was not really done, but that by it was mystically signified the excellence of human reason and command over the animals — yet the common and true opinion of the Fathers and Theologians is that names were truly imposed on the animals by Adam. For Scripture delivers this so openly and explicitly that it can not only not be denied, but cannot even be called into doubt without crime. For what else does Scripture signify but this, when it says: “God brought the animals to Adam, that he might see what he would call them: for whatever Adam called every living soul, that is its name: and Adam called all the living things by their names”? Surely, arguments are superfluous where the words of divine Scripture are so open. And since this narration of Moses is no less historical than the preceding ones, it is also to be interpreted and understood, no less than they, according to the proper signification and common usage of the words.2
Eusebius, in book 11 On the Evangelical Preparation, chapter 4, excellently disputes both properly about this imposition of names, and in general about the imposition of names — which among the Hebrews, more than among other nations, is done aptly and suitably according to the nature of each thing. And among the other things which he there treats, explaining this very place of Moses, he writes thus: “When Moses says, ‘Whatever Adam called every living soul, that is its name,’ he wished to say nothing else than that the name was suited to the nature of the thing. As if he said: As each thing was called by him, so it was in its nature.” And in chapter 3 of the same book: “Moses,” he says, “before the Greeks, or [knew] philosophy itself [...] [continues]3
EVSEBIVS in lib. 11. de Praeparat. Euangel. cap. 4. & propriè de hac nominum impositione, & in vniuersum de impositione nominum, quae apud Hebraeos magis quàm apud alias gentes aptè & conuenienter fit naturae cuiúsque rei, egregiè disputat. Et inter caetera quae inibi tractat, hunc ipsum locum Mosis explanans, ita scribit: Cùm Moses dicat, Omne quod vocauit Adam animae viuétis ipsum est nomen eius, nihil aliud dicere voluit, nisi conuenienter ad naturam rei nomen fuisse inditum. Quasi diceret: Vt ab eo quodq́; vocatum est, sic in eius natura erat. Et cap. 3. eiusdem libri: Moses, inquit, priusquam Greci, vel ipsum Philo-[sophia...]
...[such that] they might recognize the very name of wisdom (sophia), he [Moses] said innumerable things about the imposition of names, showing that names are imposed on things either with nature as guide, or by the judgment of God. Plato too teaches that names are rightly imposed on things not by bare imposition, but with nature as guide; and he confirms this by the authority of the Barbarians, meaning, in my judgment at least, the Hebrews; for you will not easily find such an observation among other peoples. From the many things, therefore, that Plato had discussed on this matter, he gathers that it belongs not to just any man, but to the wisest, to impose names on things as is fitting. ‘It is no trivial thing, then,’ he says, ‘O Hermogenes, the right imposition of a name, but the work of the most learned and most excellent men.’ Then Cratylus: ‘Rightly,’ he says, ‘do you say that names are accommodated to things with nature as guide,’ holding that not just anyone can do this, but only he who, looking to the nature of the thing, can rightly accommodate the name itself to it. Thus Eusebius.4
...sophiae nomen cognoscerent, innumerabilia de impositione nominum dixit, aut natura duce, aut Dei iudicio nomina rebus esse imposita ostendens. Plato quoque non impositione nuda, sed duce natura recte nomina rebus imponi docet: idque Barbarorum auctoritate confirmat, Hebraeos meo quidem iudicio significans; non enim apud alios talem observationem facile invenies. Ex multis igitur quae hac de re disseruerat Plato, colligit non cuiusque hominis, sed sapientissimi esse nomina rebus, ut oportet, imponere. Non ergo, inquit, triviale quiddam est, o Hermogenes, recta nominis impositio, sed doctissimorum atque praestantissimorum virorum. Tum Cratylus: Recte, inquit, ais, duce natura nomina rebus accommodata, putans nec quemvis hoc facere posse, sed illum tantummodo qui ad rei naturam respiciens, ad eam nomen ipsum recte accommodare potest. Sic Eusebius.
Moses Barcepha in illo libro quem paulo ante nominavi, ex quorundam sententia tradit, Adamum editiori Paradisi loco insidentem, augustaque auctoritate et maiestate, ac tali vultus splendore qualem emicuisse et effulsisse e facie Mosis in 34. cap. libri Exodi scriptum est, voce quae sensu excipi posset pronuntiata, singulis animantium generibus nomina indidisse, unumquodque nominatim appellando: illa vero summissis capitibus prona, neque prae nimio decore quo ille splendebat intueri ipsum audentia, singulatim praeteribant, et suis ab illo appellabantur ex ordine nominibus. Verbi gratia, cum taurum ille nomine appellaret, continuo is audito nomine suo transibat coram illo capite summisso: similiter nominatim citatus equus praeteribat deiecta cervice, neque Adami aspectum sustinens: idemque ceteris contigit.
Moses Barcepha, in that book which I named a little earlier, relates on the opinion of certain authors that Adam, seated in the higher place of Paradise, with august authority and majesty, and with such splendor of countenance as is written to have shone forth and blazed from the face of Moses in the 34th chapter of the book of Exodus, pronouncing with a voice that could be grasped by sense, assigned names to the individual kinds of animals, calling each one by name: while they, bowed down with lowered heads, and not daring to look upon him because of the exceeding glory with which he shone, passed by one at a time, and were called by him each by its name in order. For example, when he called the bull by name, at once, hearing its own name, it passed before him with head bowed: likewise the horse, summoned by name, passed by with neck lowered, not enduring the sight of Adam: and the same befell the rest.5
Illud porro animadvertendum est hoc loco, Adamum non modo scientiam rerum a Deo accepisse, sed linguam etiam perfectam, qua et loqueretur ipse, et secum loquentem Deum intelligeret, qua usus est Deus cum dixit Adamo et Evae: Crescite, et multiplicamini, et quae deinceps sequuntur ad finem usque eius capitis. Hac etiam lingua denuntiavit Adamo praeceptum non edendi ex arbore scientiae boni et mali: denique per hanc linguam facta sunt verba quaecunque in tribus primis libri Geneseos capitibus, vel a Deo, vel ab Adamo et Eva, vel a serpente dicta esse legimus.
This further must be noted in this place, that Adam received from God not only the knowledge of things, but also a perfect language, by which he himself might speak, and might understand God speaking with him, the language God used when he said to Adam and Eve: ‘Increase and multiply,’ and what follows thereafter to the very end of that chapter. In this language too he announced to Adam the precept of not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: in short, through this language were made all the words which we read to have been spoken in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, whether by God, or by Adam and Eve, or by the serpent.6
Censet autem Tostatus quaest. 344. super 13. cap. libri Geneseos, nomina quae animalibus imposuit Adamus, non ea tum primum a Deo ipsum accepisse: sic enim non Adamus, sed Deus ipse imposuisse eis nomina diceretur: sed Adamum accepisse linguam a Deo, quantum ad alia omnia perfectam, praeter eam partem quae animalium nomina continet, quam scilicet integram reliquit Deus sollertiae ac sapientiae Adami: videlicet ut ipse per scientiam quam habebat animalium, et per notitiam plurimarum vocum quam acceperat, nomina conderet, atque imponeret animalibus, singulorum naturis rite congruentia: nec ea quidem uno modo formata, sed diversis e causis petita, vel ex propria differentia specifica, vel ex naturali proprietate, vel ex motu, vel ex figura, vel ex peculiari aliqua operatione, vel...
But Tostatus holds, in question 344 on the 13th chapter of the book of Genesis, that the names which Adam imposed on the animals he did not then receive for the first time from God himself: for in that case not Adam, but God himself would be said to have imposed the names on them; but rather that Adam received the language from God, perfect as to all else, except that part which contains the names of the animals, which God of course left whole to the ingenuity and wisdom of Adam: namely, so that he himself, through the knowledge of animals which he had, and through the acquaintance with very many words which he had received, might fashion names and impose them on the animals, rightly suited to the natures of each: and these not formed in one manner only, but drawn from diverse causes, whether from their own specific difference, or from a natural property, or from motion, or from shape, or from some peculiar operation, or...7
...vel ex aliquo singulari et proprio accidenti. Lingua vero quam primo habuit Adam, et secundum quam imposuit animalibus nomina, concessu omnium Hebraea fuit, quae ante divisionem linguarum non appellabatur Hebraea; erat quippe una duntaxat lingua communis omnium hominum, et ut scriptura testatur, cap. 11. Genes.: Erat terra labii unius, et sermonum eorundem. Facta vero divisione, quoniam ea lingua quae fuerat communis omnium facta est specialis in sola familia Heber, quo vivente contigit divisio linguarum religiose custodita, idcirco ab Heber postea dicta est Hebraea: quod nomen primum legimus Abrahamo tributum, in cap. 14. Genes. Legenda sunt in hanc sententiam quae reliquit scripta S. Augustinus in lib. 17. de Civit. Dei, cap. 11. et in lib. 18. cap. 39.
...or from some singular and proper accident. But the language which Adam first had, and according to which he imposed names on the animals, was by everyone's admission Hebrew, which before the division of tongues was not called Hebrew; for there was only one language common to all men, and as Scripture attests, Genesis chapter 11: ‘The earth was of one lip, and of the same speech.’ But once the division was made, since that language which had been common to all became special to the family of Heber alone—in whose lifetime the division of tongues occurred, religiously preserved [by his family]—for that reason it was afterward called Hebrew from Heber: which name we first read to have been attributed to Abraham, in Genesis chapter 14. To be read on this subject are the things St. Augustine left written in book 17 of the City of God, chapter 11, and in book 18, chapter 39.8
Fuisse autem primam omnium linguarum Hebraeam, qua nempe usus sit Adam ceterique mortales usque ad divisionem linguarum, eo patet argumento, quod illae etymologiae nominum, quas a primaevis illis hominibus traditas esse narrat liber Geneseos, non alia in lingua ulla, nisi in Hebraea sola locum habent: veluti quod Adam uxorem suam אִשָּה (Issah) dixit, quod de viro qui vocatur אִישׁ (Is) sumpta esset, eandemque nominavit Evam, quod mater esset omnium viventium: eodemque spectant etymologiae illorum nominum, Cain, Seth, et Noe. Creditur autem linguam Hebraeam etiam vulgo puram esse conservatam usque ad captivitatem Babylonicam: post eam vero linguam popularem Hebraeorum non fuisse plane Hebraicam, sed ex Hebraeo et Chaldaico sermone mistam, atque contami-
That Hebrew was the first of all languages—the one, namely, which Adam and the other mortals used up to the division of tongues—is shown by this argument: that those etymologies of names which the book of Genesis relates were handed down by those primeval men have a place in no other language whatsoever, but in Hebrew alone. For instance, that Adam called his wife אִשָּה (Issah, woman), because she was taken from the man who is called אִישׁ (Is, man), and that he named the same woman Eve, because she was the mother of all the living: and to the same point look the etymologies of those names, Cain, Seth, and Noah. It is moreover believed that the Hebrew language was preserved pure even in common use up to the Babylonian captivity: but that after it the popular language of the Hebrews was not plainly Hebraic, but mixed with the Hebrew and Chaldaic speech, and contami-9
...natam, et in sacris tantum Bibliis remansisse linguam pure Hebraeam: quo fit ut de Hebraeis quicunque de his quae pertinent ad doctrinas vel artes scripserunt, vel Graeca, vel Arabica, vel alia peregrina lingua usi fuerint.
...nated, and that a purely Hebrew language remained only in the sacred Scriptures: whence it comes that, among the Hebrews, whoever wrote about things pertaining to the sciences or the arts used either the Greek, or the Arabic, or some other foreign tongue.10
Sed enim, ambigunt nonnulli quo tempore impositio haec nominum sit ab Adamo facta. Hugo de S. Victore scribit vel die sexto factam esse, sicut indicat ordo Mosaicae narrationis, vel longo post tempore: neque enim cunctis animalium speciebus tam brevi tempore potuisset Adam apte nomina imponere: licet non desint qui oculos Adami illuminatos a Deo esse dicant, ut animalia omnia uno conspectu videre posset: quemadmodum legitur S. Benedictum simul totum mundum in radio solis vidisse. Verum narratio Mosis perspicue ostendit impositionem nominum factam esse ante formationem Evae, quinimo tradit causam cur Eva necessario creari debuerit ex eo Adamum intellexisse, quod inspectis consideratisque animalibus nullum reperisset quod sibi ad vitae humanae societatem et generationem prolis adiumento esse posset.
But indeed, some are in doubt at what time this imposition of names was made by Adam. Hugh of St. Victor writes that it was made either on the sixth day, as the order of the Mosaic narrative indicates, or a long time afterward: for Adam could not in so short a time have fittingly imposed names on all the species of animals; although there are not lacking those who say that Adam's eyes were illuminated by God, so that he could see all the animals at a single glance: just as we read that St. Benedict saw the whole world at once in a ray of the sun. But the narrative of Moses clearly shows that the imposition of names was made before the formation of Eve; indeed it relates that Adam understood the reason why Eve necessarily had to be created from this, that, the animals having been inspected and considered, he found none that could be of help to him for the fellowship of human life and the begetting of offspring.11
Translator’s notes
- Sub-lemma (Gen 2:20a). ↩
- Decorated initial 'H.' The naming displays Adam's lordship and perfect knowledge — naming rightly requires excellent wisdom. Against Moses bar Kepha's report of a 'merely mystical' reading, the common and true view is that Adam truly named the animals (Scripture so plainly states it that doubting it is a crime), the narration being historical and literal. Marginal gloss: 'De impositione nominum.' ↩
- Eusebius (Praep. Evang. 11.4) on Hebrew names fitting the nature of things: Adam's naming means the name suited the thing's nature ('as he called it, so it was'). A further citation (ch. 3, Moses prior to the Greek philosophers) is begun. Catchword 'sophia' (signature VV 3). RESUME PDF 567 with '...vel ipsum Philo[sophiam]...'. ↩
- Conclusion of the Eusebius block-quote (de Praep. Evang. lib. 11) carried over from the previous page; quoting Plato's Cratylus (the exchange of Socrates, Hermogenes, and Cratylus on whether names fit things by nature). Ends with the attribution marker 'Sic Eusebius.' ↩
- Marginal author-citation: Moses Bar-Cepha (Moses Barcepha), the Syriac bishop, on the scene of Adam naming the animals. Reported in indirect discourse ('tradit ... indidisse'). The reference to Moses' shining face is Exodus 34:29-35. ↩
- Marginal gloss: 'Adamum linguam Hebraeam ab initio divinitus accepisse' (that Adam received the Hebrew tongue divinely from the beginning). 'Crescite et multiplicamini' = Genesis 1:28. ↩
- Tostatus = Alfonso Tostado (Abulensis); his Questions on Genesis, q. 344 on Gen. 13. Sentence continues onto the next page (catchword 'vel'). ↩
- 'Erat terra labii unius, et sermonum eorundem' = Genesis 11:1 (Vulgate). The etymology of 'Hebrew' from Heber (Eber). Augustine, De Civitate Dei 17.11 and 18.39. ↩
- GLYPHS verified by magnification: אִשָּה = Issah (woman, Gen. 2:23) and אִישׁ = Is (man); the man/woman wordplay of Gen. 2:23 ('she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man'). Marginal gloss: 'Hebraeam linguam fuisse primam omnium' (that Hebrew was the first of all languages). Sentence continues onto next page (catchword 'cam'). ↩
- Completes the sentence on the corruption of post-exilic vernacular Hebrew by Chaldaic. ↩
- Marginal gloss: 'Quando Adam imposuit nomina animalibus' (when Adam imposed names on the animals). Hugh of St. Victor; the vision of St. Benedict seeing the whole world in a sunbeam (Gregory, Dialogues 2.35). Catchword at foot of page: 'DISPV' (heading the Disputatio that opens the next page). ↩