Changes

==The Meaning of “Babel”==

==The Meaning of “Babel”==

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.

The place where they built the Tower was called Babylon, on account of the confusion of languages. The word is based purely on the 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==