Babels

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A reference to a confused mixture of voices or sounds, reminiscent of the biblical Tower of Babel
2. An allusion to a chaotic or multilingual environment where communication is muddled
3. A term that signifies a situation filled with linguistic diversity causing misunderstanding and disorder

Etymology: "Babels" is the plural of "babel," so its history is the history of that noun. The singular comes from the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis, where humanity's shared language is split into many tongues and the builders can no longer understand one another. The place name Babel, the Hebrew form of Babylon, was turned into a common noun meaning a scene of confused noise and mixed speech, and the plural simply applies that sense to several such situations at once. Because the original story is about a tower that failed when its builders were scattered by confusion of speech, the word carries the idea of disorder born from linguistic diversity, not merely from noise. That is why it fits a setting where many languages collide and misunderstanding follows.

Synonyms: confusions, chaos, babblings, murmurs, clamors

Antonyms: clarities, orders, silences, quiet, harmonies