babel

«babel» in Mova's judaism dictionary: a story in Genesis where people tried to build a tower up… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (babel — noise); proper noun (Babel — the Tower of Babel)

meaning for a pupil

1) (Bible) The Tower of Babel is a story in Genesis where people tried to build a tower up to heaven; God mixed up their language so they could not understand each other, and they spread over the earth. tree →

2) A babel is a confused noise of many voices talking at once. tree →

sense in the lessons

In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In Genesis it is a city and the place of the tower. The name sounds like the Hebrew word for "confuse". Interpretation: God mixed up human language at Babel, and people scattered across the earth. The tradition reads the story as a warning against pride and against building to make a name for ourselves. In the primary lessons: In RE the Babel story is about pride and about why there are many languages. In everyday writing "a babel of voices" describes a busy market or noisy classroom. Phrases: the Tower of Babel, a babel of voices, a babel of languages.

examples

• And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (Torah GEN.10.10, JPS 1917) tree →
• Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth; and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Torah GEN.11.9, JPS 1917) tree →
• The people of Babel wanted a tower that reached the sky. tree →
• God confused their language, and work on the tower stopped. tree →
• The station was a babel of voices in many languages. tree →
• Our classroom became a babel when the teacher left. tree →
• We built a Tower of Babel from paper cups. tree →
• The story of Babel explains why people speak different languages. tree →

note

Capital B for the Bible place; small b for "confused noise". Say "BAY-bul". Not the same as "babble" (to talk fast and foolishly), though they sound alike and the meanings are close.

In the corpora

• And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
• The Bible's story of the Tower of Babel was probably inspired by a real ziggurat in Babylon.
• The Babel story explains why people speak different languages.
• Christians see Pentecost, when Jesus' followers were understood in many languages, as the reversal of Babel.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «babel» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.