From: Monte

Dear Rabbi,

What language did Adam and Eve speak? Was it Hebrew?

Dear Monte,

We see evidence that Adam spoke Hebrew because he referred to Eve using two words that make sense only in Hebrew. In the one instance (Gen. 2:23) he called her isha (woman) because she was taken from ish (man). In the other instance (3:20) he named her Chava (Eve) because she was to be Mother of all chai (life).

In fact, the very name Adam is from the Hebrew word adamah (earth), referring to the fact that G‑d fashioned Adam’s body from the earth.

From the time of Adam and Eve until the generation of the Tower of Babel, everyone spoke Hebrew. After that time, G‑d “babel-ed” people’s speech, which resulted in the emergence of different languages (Gen 11:1-9; Gen. Raba 38).