The History of Herodotus | Book II. The Second Book of the Histories, Called Euterpe | Translated Into English by G. C. Macaulay | Project Gutenberg Ebook 2707Now the Egyptians, before the time when Psammetichos 1 became king over them, were wont to suppose that they had come into being first of all men; but since the time when Psammetichos having become king desired to know what men had come into being first, they suppose that the Phrygians came into being before themselves, but they themselves before all other men.
Now Psammetichos, when he was not able by inquiry to find out any means of knowing who had come into being first of all men, contrived a device of the following kind: -- Taking two new-born children belonging to persons of the common sort he gave them to a shepherd to bring up at the place where his flocks were, with a manner of bringing up such as I shall say, charging him namely that no man should utter any word in their presence, and that they should be placed by themselves in a room where none might come, and at the proper time he should bring to them she-goats, and when he had satisfied them with milk he should do for them whatever else was needed. These things Psammetichos did and gave him this charge wishing to hear what word the children would let break forth first, after they had ceased from wailings without sense.
And accordingly so it came to pass; for after a space of two years had gone by, during which the shepherd went on acting so, at length, when he opened the door and entered, both the children fell before him in entreaty and uttered the word bekos, stretching forth their hands. At first when he heard this the shepherd kept silence; but since this word was often repeated, as he visited them constantly and attended to them, at last he declared the matter to his master, and at his command he brought the children before his face.
Then Psammetichos having himself also heard it, began to inquire about what nation of men named anything bekos, and inquiring he found that the Phrygians had this name for bread. In this manner and guided by an indication such as this, the Egyptians were brought to allow that the Phrygians were a more ancient people than themselves.
Thank you, SunkenCiv.
How can we get past the abstract to the actual paper?
That's what I've been saying for years!
/sarc
Wait for it...I can hear it now: Audible farting is a form of speech.
It isn’t something we acquired long after becoming human. It’s something we developed as soon as we need to make meaning—as soon as we realized we were conscious and needed to communicate with another person. Whether it’s warning about a coming storm or a lion in the bush, even the most primitive humans would have found ways to encode reality into sound, gesture, or expression.
That’s symbolic thinking—the essence of language. Even animals have it.
We didn’t wait for grammar books to speak. We wrap our reality in language from the moment we realize sound or gesture can carry meaning. It evolves with our needs, our surroundings, and our relationships—just like the personal “language” many of us use with animals.
Language isn’t a cultural artifact layered on top of thought. It is thought, externalized—a living system of symbols shaped by survival, emotion, and connection.
charging him namely that no man should utter any word in their presence, and that they should be placed by themselves in a room where none might come,
Ahh...a little child abuse in the name of “science”...
This warrants further investigation.
On The Origins of Language --
two children raised among goats, a goatherd, and an Egyptian king inquiring after the origin of mankind walk into a bar. The bartender Psammetichus asks...
Then it turns out it's no joke! All of that scholarship, yet the erudite Set hasn't learned to live a little. It's as if they are whistling past the graveyard.
It's like I've been saying -- Punish is the Holy Tongue; it's full of holes! There's even a verse for that:
And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain (Rev 16:10)
Vile!
It gets much worse, because have you ever seen what hail can do to a garden? One year, the beautiful, lush leaves in my pumpkin patch were shot full of holes and left in shreds.
Well down in verse 21:
And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone] about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
This is EZ to explain:
Psammetichus asks the goatherd to report the first word that the children utter, and when it turns out that this word is bekos, a Phrygian for ‘bread’...
... it means it's well past time to talk Hebrew transliteration, because over there, "bread" is written as
ברד
(Anyone can run that word in a search along with "bread" and find that "ברד" is used that way, such as in... bakery signage.)
Yet "ברד" is the word for hail. The good news for those who take the Good News Challenge is that it's also refreshing shaved ice -- aka a Snowcone outside the isles, being the original name for the command module Columbia. It was very good news upon her splashdown out there, in the body of water named for peace. (Hail Columbia!)
🍧
"Audaces Fortuna Juvat", so back to the plotline in the King's English, regarding the raining down of bread from heaven so to speak (it never ends!)...
Now the Egyptians, before the time when Psammetichos 1 became king over them...
...the very first appearance of hail in the OLD Testament was the 7th plague (brutal!):
Exodus 9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail [ברד], such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
And the very first appearance of hail in the NEW Testament is:
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him. (Mat 26:48-49)
First a grievous hail-hail, then another first of grievous hail, the hail of betrayal. Yet what was that hail, but a simple kindly -- albeit disingenuous -- happy greeting:
"Χαῖρε ῥαββί!"
Google Translate converts that to Hebrew as "!שלום לך, רבי", "Shalom to you, Rabbi!"
And over at the "Sar Shalom" NT translation, the hail is also shalom, which is to say, peace:
וּמִיָּד נִגַּשׁ אֶל־יֵשׁוּעַ וַיּׂאמֶר *שָׁלוֹם* לְךָ רַבִּי וַיְנַשֶׁק־לוֹ׃
And straightway he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Rabbi; and kissed him. (Mat 26:49)
To focus in on that part:
And he said, "Shalom to you, Rabbi!":
ויאמר שלום לך רבי, which adds up to 895.
It's definitely worth commenting on that sum because it really jumped out. 895 is the most repeated verse total in all the Torah/Tanakh.
70x in the Torah as:
וידבר יהוה אל משה לאמר
("And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying", which is actually in the English 72x)
895 is a verse sum 1x with the subject swap (Num 27:15):
"And Moses spake unto the LORD, saying,"
Yeah but whoever even reads that far? Yet it goes on and on, just on the sum of "Shalom to you, Rabbi!" alone.
On The Origins of Language --
The lower worlds (the Dark Side) can't even muster a genuine, honest-to-goodness "Hi", much less a song to sing:
"Well Hello there.."
Willie Nelson - Funny How Time Slips Away
***
"I've got the song of the voice inside me, Set to the rhythm of the wheel."
Nothing I Can Do About It Now -- Willie Nelson
🤔