I understand Hebrew to be the oldest language; was this the language Adam and Eve spoke? Or is Hebrew first used, to our knowledge, by Moses when he used it to write the Old Testament? — Fransisca of Oberwunsch, Germany

Dear Fransisca,

Archaeologists have uncovered languages that are older than Hebrew. For instance, the Sumerian written language used pictures for words and sounds. Also, ancient Egyptians used pictures called hieroglyphics (hi-ur-uh-GLIFF-icks) to write words and sounds. Later, other languages (like Hebrew) used an alphabet to write words. The earliest form of Hebrew appeared before the time of Moses. So, Hebrew was around when Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, and it is the language in which most of the Old Testament was written, although some of it was written in Aramaic (Daniel 2-6, and parts of Ezra 4-7). The alphabet of Aramaic looks like Hebrew, but it has different grammar and spelling.

We don't know what language Adam spoke, but he was able to name the animals and communicate with Eve. So, from the very beginning, man was intelligent and spoke a language. He wasn't an ignorant caveman who used grunts to communicate with others.