Finding ‘language’ in the Hebrew Bible

In the Hebrew Bible, lashon [לָשׁוֹן] and safah [שָׂפָה] are both translated as ‘language’. In Genesis 10, survivors of the flood went their separate ways each according to their lashon. In Chapter 11, the builders of the Tower of Babel all spoke the same safah. Focusing on lashon, it changes radically over the Biblical millennium. From ~1400 BCE, lashon describes ways in which individuals speak. By 550-450 BCE, it was synonymous with ‘nation’ or ‘people’ and used in a manner more familiar to us today.