‎"MORIN, ESTIENNE.‎
‎Exercitationes de lingua primaeva ejusque appendicibus. - [ON THE EARLIEST LANGUAGE]‎

‎Ultrajecti (Utrecht), Gulielmum Broedelet, 1694. 4to. In contemporary full calf with four raised bands and richly gilt spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spine. Small worm-tract in inner margin, affecting app. 20 leaves, not affecting text. 1 plates detached and a few leaves with marginal dampstain. Overall a very nice and clean copy. (14), 448, (8) pp. + 4 plates and 1 frontispiece.‎

Reference : 60803

‎First edition of this linguistic work on the source and history of the first language, with a focus on Hebrew. The Dutch philologist Etienne Morin (1624–1700) utilizes the Augustinian thesis in his discussion of the primeval language: ""Quoting from Augustine (City of God xvi. 5 and 10), he maintains that the world always ought to be divided into two antithetical communities. Of these two, the patriarchs Shem and Heber belonged to the city of God, while the crowd of rebels who conspired at Babel embodied the city of man. Morin concludes that this proves that Shem could not possibly have taken part in the conspiracy at Babel. Augustine could not have put forward a better argument, he says. As the constant companion of true religion, the original language was preserved in the family and among the pious descendants of Heber who transmitted it as a legacy to those practising piety."" (Eskhult, Augustine and the Primeval Language in Early Modern Exegesis and Philology). ‎