You Wascally Wabbit!

So today my reading went into the descendants of Noah, and specifically to Nimrod, who founded the city of Babylon and who was one of the folks who worked on the ill-fated Tower of Babel. Several things about today's entry fascinated me: Firstly, when I read that Noah's great-grandson was named "Nimrod," and was described as a mighty hunter, I had to figure out when and where this name turned into the description of a, shall we say, "less bright" person. Thank God for teh internets, because after very little research, I found this entry from "Ask Yahoo," which completely satisfied my curiosity due to it's great sources.

So, for those who don't want to clicky the linky:

Essentially, the usage of the word "Nimrod" to describe a great hunter was in effect until that Wascalliest of Wabbits, "Bugs Bunny" came into being. That joker once referred to speech impeded Elmer Fudd as being a "poor, little Nimrod," and thus, usage of the word to mean, "Dumbass," was born.

Fascinatin', ain't it?

Secondly, as a self-proclaimed linguaphile, I have always been intrigued by the story of the Tower of Babel. I mean, to think that at one time (according to legend, anyway), all the people on the earth spoke one language! And to have God himself deem this as too dangerous, saying in Genesis 11:6, ""If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them," well, imagine my interest. It would seem that a lot of problems with people in general is a failure to communicate well with one another. So to think that speaking a common language would be detrimental is absurd. And honestly - God doesn't seem to think this is a problem for the people on earth, so much as it becomes a problem to HIM. It's like God becomes the humbug professor in "The Wizard of Oz" who wants to keep himself hidden behind a curtain, so that the outside only sees the puffed up image he projects to them. What is God afraid of? Is there something in this passage that gives us a key to monotheism? I can't help but wonder, but I'm sure that's far too deep to delve into at 9:15a on a Friday morning in Live Journal. But you had better believe it's something I plan to bring up with a spiritual adviser when I find one.

Finally, I really enjoy learning word origins, period. So finding out about Nimrod was awesome. Realizing that "Babel" begat Babble is like a bonus. According to my translation, anyway, the word "Babel," comes from Hebrew meaning "Confused." This means that our usage of the homophone "babble" to describe the confused nonsense of babies learning speech has a very concrete foundation in that early proper noun.

Overall, today's short reading has given me a lot to think about, so I guess I'd better get to work on the rest of the things I have to do today so that I can have time to think about all that. :-)