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==The Meaning of “Babel”==

==The Meaning of “Babel”==

Babel, the name of the Tower, refers to the city Babylon. It is derived from the Akkadian ''Bâb-îlim'' (''-îlāni''), “gate of god” (or “of the gods”). This is also the [[etymology]] of the city in which it was supposedly built, Babylon. The popular rendition of the etymology of Babel, as found in the Bible, is "balal", meaning to confuse. This second etymology is a [[folk etymology]], and is based on a popular theme in Biblical literature to defame other competing religions to the emerging Jewish faith. The defamation is derived from the link that the Tower, which is in the same mode as the Babylonian [[ziggurats]], represents the [[Babylonian religion]]- characterized by their main God, [[Marduk]]- as being confusion, as opposed to religion.

The place where they built the Tower was called Babylon, on account of the confusion of languages. The word is based the purely Hebrew etymological law, which makes ''bālal'', “to confuse,” or “mingle,” assume a reduplicate form; but as far as the numerous cuneiform inscriptions are concerned, ''balālu'', “to mingle” (the root in question), was an impossibility. On the Babylonian side the rendering of the name ''Bâb-îli'' (''-îlāni''), “gate of god” (or “of the gods”) was a folk-etymology, sharing the same meaning as the Sumero-Akkadian form ''Ka-dingira''. It is noteworthy, however, that one of the forms used by [[Nebuchadrezzar]] is ''Babilam'', with the mimmation or “emming,” which is a characteristic of the Babylonian language; moreover, a place-name ''Babalam'' also occurs, which may be a still earlier, and possibly the original, form. Notwithstanding that one would like to see in ''Babalam'', “the place of bringing together,” and in ''Babilam'', “the bringer together,” the termination ''-am'' would seem to be an insurmountable difficulty.

==General Form of Babylonian Temple-Towers==

==General Form of Babylonian Temple-Towers==