Enochian

Enochian

Enochian ( ə-NOH-kee-ən) is an occult language or languages, claimed to be angelic, recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his colleague Edward Kelley in late 16th-century England. Kelley was a spirit medium who worked with Dee in his magical investigations. The men claimed that the language was revealed to them by the Enochian angels. The language is integral to the practice of Enochian magic. The language found in Dee's and Kelley's journals encompasses a limited textual corpus, only some of it with translation. Several linguists, notably Donald Laycock, have studied the Enochian journals, and argue against any extraordinary features in the language. The untranslated language of the Liber Loagaeth manuscript recalls the patterns of glossolalia. The language of the Calls, which are translated, may be more like an artificial language. The phonology is thoroughly English; the grammar seems to be less so, but the translations are not sufficient to work out much grammar.Dee's journals did not describe the language as "Enochian", instead preferring descriptors like "Angelical", the "Celestial Speech", the "Language of Angels", the "First Language of God-Christ", the "Holy Language" or "Adamical" because, according to Dee's Angels, it was used by Adam in Paradise to name all things. The term "Enochian" comes from Dee's assertion that the Biblical Patriarch Enoch had been the last human (before Dee and Kelley) to know the language.

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