Editing Tower of Babel (section)

== Etymology ==
The phrase "Tower of Babel" does not appear in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] nor elsewhere in the [[Bible]]; it is always "the city and the tower"{{efn|{{langx|he|אֶת הָעִיר וְאֶת הַמִּגְדָּל|ʾeṯ hā-ʿîr wəʾeṯ ha-mmiḡdāl|label=none}}}} or just "the city".{{efn|{{langx|he|הָעִיר|hāʿîr|label=none}}}} The original derivation of the name Babel, which is the Hebrew name for [[Babylon]], is uncertain. The native [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] name of the city was {{tlit|akk|Bāb-ilim}}, meaning 'gate of God'. However, that form and interpretation itself are now usually thought to derive from Akkadian [[folk etymology]] applied to an earlier form of the name, {{tlit|akk|Babilla}}, of unknown meaning and probably non-[[Semitic languages|Semitic]] origin.<ref name="Day2014">{{cite book|first=John|last=Day|title=From Creation to Babel: Studies in Genesis 1–11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtveBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA180|date=2014|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=978-0-567-37030-3|pages=179–180}}</ref><ref>Dietz Otto Edzard: ''Geschichte Mesopotamiens. Von den Sumerern bis zu Alexander dem Großen'', Beck, München 2004, p. 121.</ref>

Per the story in Genesis, the city received the name "Babel" from the Hebrew verb {{Transliteration|he|bālal}},{{efn|{{lang|he|בָּלַל}}}} meaning to jumble or to confuse, after Yahweh distorted the common language of humankind.<ref name="Mckenzie1995">{{cite book|author=John L. Mckenzie|title=The Dictionary of the Bible|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aE7EyQ_HQAMC&pg=PA73|date=1995|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-684-81913-6|page=73}}</ref> According to ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'', this reflects [[word play]] due to the Hebrew terms for Babylon and "to confuse" having similar pronunciation.<ref name=":0" />