Enochian

Enochian (/ɪˈnoʊkiən/ ə-NOH-kee-ən) is an occult constructed

language[3] — said by its originators to have been received from
angels — recorded in the private journals of John Dee and his
colleague Edward Kelley in late 16th-century England.[4] Kelley was a
scryer who worked with Dee in his magical investigations. The
language is integral to the practice of Enochian magic.
 Enochian

John Dee’s manuscript diary for 6 May 1583, showing the 21 letters of
the Enochian script

Created by John Dee

Edward Kelley
Date 1583–1584

Setting and usage Occult journals

Purpose Divine language

Enochian
Writing system Latin script, Enochian script

Language codes

ISO 639-3 None ( mis )

Glottolog None

IETF i-enochian
(deprecated)[1][2]

The language found in Dee's and Kelley's journals encompasses a

limited textual corpus. Linguist Donald Laycock, an Australian
Skeptic, studied the Enochian journals, and argues against any
extraordinary features. The untranslated texts of the Liber Loagaeth
manuscript recall the patterns of glossolalia rather than true
language. Dee did not distinguish the Liber Loagaeth material from
the translated language of the Calls, which is more like an artificial
language. This language was called Angelical by Dee and later came
to be referred to as 'Enochian' by subsequent writers. The phonology
and grammar resemble English, though the translations are not
sufficient to work out any regular morphology.[5] Some Enochian
words resemble words and proper names in the Bible, but most have
no apparent etymology.[6]

Dee's journals also refer to this language as "Celestial Speech",

"First Language of God-Christ", "Holy Language", or "Language of
Angels". He also referred to it as "Adamical" because, according to
Dee's angels, it was used by Adam in Paradise to name all things.
The term "Enochian" comes from Dee's assertion that the Biblical
patriarch Enoch had been the last human (before Dee and Kelley) to
know the language.

History

John Dee (pictured) recorded the Enochian corpus in his journals with the assistance of Edward Kelley as his scryer and collaborator.
According to Tobias Churton in his text The Golden Builders,[7] the
concept of an Angelic or antediluvian language was common during
Dee's time. If one could speak the language of angels, it was
believed one could directly interact with them.

Seeking contact and reported visions

In 1581, Dee mentioned in his personal journals that God had sent
"good angels" to communicate directly with prophets. In 1582, Dee
teamed up with the seer Edward Kelley, although Dee had used
several other seers previously.[8] With Kelley's help as a scryer, Dee
set out to establish lasting contact with the angels. Their work
resulted, among other things, in the reception of Angelical, now
more commonly known as Enochian.[9]

The reception started on March 26, 1583, when Kelley reported

visions in the crystal of a 21 lettered alphabet. A few days later,
Kelley started receiving what became the book Liber Loagaeth
("Book [of] Speech from God"). The book consists of 49 great letter
tables, or squares made of 49 by 49 letters (however each table has
a front and a back side, making 98 tables of 49×49 letters
altogether).[a] Dee and Kelley said the angels never translated the
texts in this book.
Receiving the Angelic Keys

About a year later, at the court of King Stephen Báthory in Kraków,

where both alchemists stayed for some time, another set of texts
was reportedly received through Kelley. These texts comprise 48
poetic verses with English translations, which in Dee's manuscripts
are called Claves Angelicae, or Angelic Keys. Dee was apparently
intending to use these Keys to open the "Gates of Understanding"[10]
represented by the magic squares in Liber Loagaeth:

I am therefore to instruct and inform you, according

to your Doctrine delivered, which is contained in 49
Tables. In 49 voices, or callings: which are the Natural
Keys to open those, not 49 but 48 (for one is not to be
opened) Gates of Understanding, whereby you shall
have knowledge to move every Gate...[11]

— The angel Nalvage

But you shall understand that these 19 Calls are the

Calls, or entrances into the knowledge of the mystical
Tables. Every Table containing one whole leaf,
whereunto you need no other circumstances.[12]
 — The angel Illemese

Phonology and writing system

The language was recorded primarily in Latin script, however,
individual words written in Enochian script "appear sporadically
throughout the manuscripts".[13] There are 21 letters in the script;
one letter appears with or without a diacritic dot. Dee mapped these
letters of the "Adamical alphabet" onto 22 of the letters of the
English alphabet, treating U and V as positional variants (as was
common at the time) and omitting the English letters J, K, and W.[b]
The Enochian script is written from right to left in John Dee's
diary.[14] Different documents have slightly different forms of the
script. The alphabet also shares many graphical similarities to a
script, also attributed to the prophet Enoch, that appeared in the
Voarchadumia Contra Alchimiam of Johannes Pantheus,[15] a copy of
which Dee is known to have owned.[13]

The phonology of Enochian is "thoroughly English", apart from

difficult sequences such as bdrios, excolphabmartbh, longamphlg,
lapch, etc.[16] Similarly, Enochian orthography closely follows Early
Modern English orthography, for example in having soft and hard ⟨c⟩
and ⟨g⟩, and in using digraphs ⟨ch⟩, ⟨ph⟩, ⟨sh⟩, and ⟨th⟩ for the sounds
/tʃ ~ k/, /f/, /ʃ/, and /θ/.[17] Laycock mapped Enochian orthography
to its sound system and says, "the resulting pronunciation makes it
sound much more like English than it looks at first sight".[18][c]
However, the difficult strings of consonants and vowels in words
such as ooaona, paombd, smnad and noncf are the kind of pattern
one gets by joining letters from a text together in an arbitrary
pattern. As Laycok notes, "The reader can test this by taking, for
example, every tenth letter on this page, and dividing the string of
letters into words. The 'text' created will tend to look rather like
Enochian."[19]

Alphabet

The Enochian letters, with their letter names and English equivalents
as given by Dee, and pronunciations as reconstructed by Laycock,
are as follows.[b] Modern pronunciation conventions vary, depending
on the affiliations of the practitioner.[d]
 Letter English Golden Dawn
Letter Enochian phonology[20]
name equivalent syllabic reading[21][α]

Un A long [ɑː] (stressed), short [a] (unstressed) [ɑː]

Pa B [b]; silent after m when before another consonant or final [beɪ]

[k] before a, o, u; [s] before e, i and in consonant clusters, with many exceptions;
Veh C ?
⟨ch⟩ as [k] in most positions but [tʃ] finally.

Gal D [d] [deɪ]

Graph E [eː] (stressed), [ɛ] (unstressed) [eɪ]

Or F [f] [ɛf]

Ged G [ɡ] before a, o, u; [dʒ] before e, i, finally, after d, and in consonant clusters. ?

[h] except in ⟨ch⟩, ⟨ph⟩, ⟨sh⟩, ⟨th⟩; silent after a vowel

Na H [heɪ]
(in which case the vowel is "lengthened" – that is, has the sound it would have if stressed)

[j] word-initially before a vowel; as a vowel: [iː] (stressed), [ɪ] (unstressed),

I [iː]
plus diphthongs ai [aɪ], ei [eɪ], oi [oɪ]
Gon
Y [j] (same as I)

Ur L [l] ?

Tal M [m] [ɛm]

Drux N [n] [ɛn], [nuː]

Med O [oː] (stressed), [ɒ] (unstressed) [oʊ]

Mals P [p] but for ⟨ph⟩, which is [f] [peɪ]

Ger Q [kw]; the word q is [kwɑː] ?

Don R [r] [ɑː(r)], [rɑː]

Fam S [s] or [z] as would be natural in English, but for ⟨sh⟩, which is [ʃ] [ɛs]

Gisg T [t] but for ⟨th⟩, which is [θ] [teɪ]

Van U/V [uː] (stressed) or [ʊ] (unstressed); [juː] in initial position; [v] or [w] before another vowel and word-finally ?

Pal X [ks] [ɛks]

Ceph Z [z], rarely [zɒd] [zɒd]

α. According to Wynn Wescott, each letter may be pronounced separately

as its name in English or sometimes as the first consonant and vowel of
its Hebrew name, e.g. N may be [ɛn] or [nu] (from nun). However,
consonants-vowel sequences may be optionally run together into single
 syllables. E.g. ta may be pronounced [teɪ ɑː] or [tɑː]; co, [koʊ]; ar, [ɑːr]; re,
[reɪ].[21]

A number of fonts for the Enochian script are available. They use the
ASCII range, with the letters assigned to the codepoints of their
English equivalents.[22][23][24][25]

Grammar

Morphology

The grammar is for the most part without articles or

prepositions.[5][26] Adjectives are quite rare.[27] Aaron Leitch
identifies several affixes in Enochian, including -o (indicating 'of') and
-ax (which functions like -ing in English).[28] Leitch observes that,
unlike English, Enochian appears to have a vocative case, citing
Dee's note in the margin of the First Table of Loagaeth[29] – "Befes
the vocative case of Befafes".[30]

Compounds

Compounds are frequent in the Enochian corpus. Modifiers and

indicators are typically compounded with the nouns and verbs
modified or indicated. These compounds can occur with
demonstrative pronouns and conjunctions, as well as with various
forms of the verb 'to be'. The compounding of nouns with adjectives
or other verbs is less common. Compounds may exhibit variant
spellings of the words combined.[31]

Conjugation

Conjugation can result in spelling changes which can appear to be

random or haphazard. Due to this, Aaron Leitch has expressed
doubt as to whether Enochian actually has conjugations.[32] The very
scant evidence of Enochian verb conjugation seems quite
reminiscent of English, including the verb 'to be' which is highly
irregular.[5]

Laycock reports that the largest number of forms are recorded for
'be' and for goh- 'say':[5]
 'to be'
zir, zirdo I am
geh thou art
i he/she/it is
chiis, chis, chisothey are
as, zirop was
zirom were
trian shall be
christeos let there be
bolp be thou!
ipam is not
ipamis cannot be

'to say'
gohus I say
gohe, gohohe says
gohia we say
gohol saying
gohon they have spoken
gohulim it is said

Note that christeos 'let there be' might be from 'Christ', and if so is
not part of a conjugation.[6]
For negation of verbs, two constructions are attested: e.g. chis ge
'are not' (chis 'they are') and ip uran 'not see' (uran 'see').[5]

Pronouns

While Enochian does have personal pronouns, they are rare and
used in ways that can be difficult to understand. Relative possessive
pronouns do exist but are used sparingly.[27]

Attested personal pronouns (Dee's material only):[33]

ol I, me, my, myself

il, ils, yls, ylsi thou, thee
q ([kwɑ]) thy
tia his
tox of him, his
pi she
tlb = tilb, tbl ([tibl])her, of her
tiobl in her
t ([ti]) it
zylna itself
ge we, us, our (soft 'g')
helech in ours (?)
g = gi you, your (soft 'g')
nonci you (soft 'c')
nonca, noncf, noncpto you (soft 'c')
amiran yourselves
z ([zə]) they
par they, them

Demonstrative pronouns: oi 'this', unal 'these, those', priaz(i)

'those'.[34]

Syntax

Word order closely follows English, except for the dearth of articles
and prepositions.[5] Adjectives, although rare, typically precede the
noun as in English.[27]

Vocabulary and corpus

Laycock notes that there are about 250 different words in the corpus
of Enochian texts, more than half of which occur only once. A few
resemble words in the Bible – mostly proper names – in both sound
and meaning. For example, luciftias "brightness" resembles Lucifer
"the light-bearer"; babalond "wicked, harlot" resembles Babylon.[6]
Leitch notes a number of root words in Enochian. He lists Doh, I, Ia,
Iad, among others, as likely root words.[35] While the Angelic Keys
contain most of the known vocabulary of Enochian, dozens of
further words are found throughout Dee's journals.

Thousands of additional, undefined words are contained in the Liber

Loagaeth. Laycock notes that the material in Liber Loagaeth appears
to be different from the language of the 'Calls' found in the Angelic
Keys, which appear to have been generated from the tables and
squares of the Loagaeth.[5] According to Laycock:

The texts in the Loagaeth show patterning

"characteristically found in certain types of
meaningless language (such as glossolalia), which is
often produced under conditions similar to trance. In
other words, Kelley may have been 'speaking in
tongues'. [...] there is no evidence that these early
invocations are any form of 'language' [...] at all.[36]

Dictionaries

There have been several compilations of Enochian words made to

form Enochian dictionaries. A scholarly study is Donald Laycock's
The Complete Enochian Dictionary.[37] Also useful is Vinci's
Gmicalzoma: An Enochian Dictionary.[38]

Representation of numbers
The number system is inexplicable. It seems possible to identify the
numerals from 0 to 10:[39]

0–T
1 – L, EL, L-O, ELO, LA, LI, LIL
2 – V, VI-I-V, VI-VI
3 – D, R
4 – S, ES
5–O
6 – N, NORZ
7–Q
8–P
9 – M, EM
10 – X

However, Enochian texts contain larger numbers written in

alphabetical form, and there is no discernible system behind
them:[39]
12 – OS
19 – AF
22 – OP
24 – OL
26 – OX
28 – OB, NI
31 – GA
33 – PD
42 – VX
456 – CLA
1000 – MATB
1,636 – QUAR
3,663 – MIAN
5,678 – DAOX
6,332 – ERAN
6,739 – DARG
7,336 – TAXS
7,699 – ACAM
8,763 – EMOD
9,639 – MAPM
 9,996 – CIAL
69,636 – PEOAL

As Laycock put it, "the test of any future spirit-revelation of the

Enochian language will be the explanation of this numerical
system."[39]

Relation to other languages

Dee believed Enochian to be the Adamic language universally
spoken before the confusion of tongues. However, modern analysis
shows Enochian to be an English-like constructed language.[3] Word
order closely follows English, except for the dearth of articles and
prepositions.[5] The very scant evidence of Enochian verb
conjugation is likewise reminiscent of English, more so than with
Semitic languages such as Hebrew, which Dee said were debased
versions of the Enochian language.[5]

See also
Religion
portal
Constructed
languages
portal

List of magical terms and traditions

 Renaissance magic

Notes
a. This book is now in the British Library, MS Sloane 3189.
b. Dee's table in Loagaeth (MS Sloane 3189) as reproduced in Magickal
Review (2005).
c. Laycock (2001), p. 45: "As the texts dictated in Enochian consist of a
series of 'Calls', or invocations of supernatural beings, it was clearly
necessary for Dee and Kelley to know how the words should be uttered;
in most magical systems, a slight error in the text of a spell or invocation
is regarded as potentially leading to disastrous consequences.
Accordingly, Dee was in the habit of writing the pronunciation of the
Enochian words alongside the text. … his intention is usually quite clear.
He writes dg when he means 'soft g' (as in gem); and s for 'soft c'; and he
indicates in some places that ch is to be pronounced as k. He marks the
stressed vowels in most words. … In more difficult cases, he gives
examples from English, thus, zorge is said to be pronounced to rhyme
with 'George'. … With all of these instructions, we can get a fairly good
idea of how Enochian sounded to Dee and Kelley. We have to make
allowances, of course, for the fact that the two men spoke English of
more than four centuries ago … Fortunately, linguists are in the
possession of sufficient evidence … to establish the pronunciation of
most forms of Elizabethan English with a high degree of accuracy."
d. DuQuette (2019), p. 197: "[...] by and large, we modern magicians are left
to our own devices as to how to push these awkwardly constructed
words out of our mouths. [...] The Golden Dawn and Crowley use a
 pronunciation that they felt rolled more fluidly off the tongue. This
method obliged the magician to insert a natural Hebrew vowel sound
after every Enochian consonant. [...] The most obvious alternative to the
GD pronunciation is simply sounding out the words as they are written
[...] This is what I have done, and what I recommend to students who are
learning Enochian magick."

References

Citations

1. "Language Subtag Registry" (https://www.iana.org/assignments/lang-su

btags-templates/lang-subtags-templates.xhtml) . Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
2. "Language Subtag Registration Form for 'i-enochian' " (https://www.iana.
org/assignments/lang-subtags-templates/i-enochian.txt) . Internet
Assigned Numbers Authority. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
3. Bowern & Lindemann (2021).
4. The Private Diary of Dr. John Dee by John Dee (https://gutenberg.org/eb
ooks/19553) at Project Gutenberg.
5. Laycock (2001), p. 43.
6. Laycock (2001), p. 42.
7. Churton (2002).
8. Harkness (1999), p. 16-17.
9. Leitch (2010b).
10. Dee (1659), p. 77 (https://books.google.com/books?id=iikdAQAAMAAJ&
pg=PA77) .
11. The angel Nalvage, cited in Dee (1992), p. 77.
12. The angel Illemese, cited in Dee (1992), p. 199.
13. Laycock (2001), p. 28.
14. Dee (1582).
15. Pantheus (1550), p. 15v-16r.
16. Laycock (2001), p. 33, 41.
17. Leitch (2010b), p. 23-24.
18. Laycock (2001), p. 46.
19. Laycock (2001), p. 40-41.
20. Laycock (2001), pp. 46–47.
21. Laycock (2001), p. 60.
22. "Enochian Materials" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070826140151/htt
p://www.themagickalreview.org/enochian/) . The Magickal Review.
Archived from the original (http://www.themagickalreview.org/enochia
n/) on 2007-08-26.
23. Gerald J. Schueler, Betty Jane Schueler (2001). "Download fonts" (http://
www.schuelers.com/enochian/fonts.htm) . Schueler's Online.
24. James A. Eshelman (2001). "Enochian Elemental Tablets" (http://www.au
mha.org/arcane/enoch.htm) . AumHa.
 25. "Enochian Font" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110927183854/http://w
ww.esotericgoldendawn.com/mysteries_enochian_font.htm) . Esoteric
Order of the Golden Dawn. 2007. Archived from the original (http://www.
esotericgoldendawn.com/mysteries_enochian_font.htm) on 2011-09-
27.
26. Leitch (2010b), p. 20.
27. Leitch (2010b), pp. 19–20.
28. Leitch (2010b), pp. 18–19.
29. Leitch (2010b), p. 21.
30. Dee & Peterson (2003), p. 310.
31. Leitch (2010b), pp. 15–17.
32. Leitch (2010b), pp. 17–18.
33. Laycock (2001), p. 43 and dictionary entries.
34. Laycock (2001), p. dictionary entries.
35. Leitch (2010b), pp. 14–15.
36. Laycock (2001), pp. 33–34.
37. Laycock (2001).
38. Vinci (1992).
39. Laycock (2001), pp. 44.

Works cited

Primary sources

Dee, John (1582). "Sloane MS 3188" (http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullD

 isplay.aspx?ref=Sloane_MS_3188) . British Library.
Dee, John (1659). A True & Faithful Relation of what Passed for Many Yeers
Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits. Antonine Publishing Company.
Dee, John (1992). Casaubon, Meric (ed.). A True and Faithful Relation of
What Passed for Many Years Between John Dee and Some Spirits. New
York: Magickal Childe Publishing.
Dee, John; Peterson, Joseph H. (2003). John Dee's Five Books of Mystery:
Original Sourcebook of Enochian Magic: From the Collected Works
Known as Mysteriorum Libri Quinque. Boston: Weiser Books.
ISBN 1578631785.
Pantheus, Johannes (1550). Voarchadumia Contra Alchimiam (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20160308052242/https://www.scribd.com/doc/99
25345/Voarchadumia-Contra-Alchimiam-Johannes-Pantheus) .
p. 15v-16r. Archived from the original (https://www.scribd.com/doc/9
925345/Voarchadumia-Contra-Alchimiam-Johannes-Pantheus) on
2016-03-08 – via Scribd.com.

Secondary sources

Bowern, Claire L.; Lindemann, Luke (January 2021). "The Linguistics of

the Voynich Manuscript". Annual Review of Linguistics. 7: 285–308.
doi:10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011619-030613 (https://doi.org/10.1
146%2Fannurev-linguistics-011619-030613) . S2CID 228894621 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:228894621) .
Churton, Tobias (2002). The Golden Builders. Signal Publishing. ISBN 0-
9543309-0-0.
 DuQuette, Lon Milo (2019). Enochian Vision Magick: A Practical Guide to
the Magick of Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley. Red Wheel/Weiser.
ISBN 978-1578636846.
Harkness, Deborah (1999). John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala,
Alchemy, and the End of Nature. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0521622288.
Laycock, Donald (2001). The Complete Enochian Dictionary: A Dictionary of
the Angelic Language As Revealed to Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley.
Boston: Weiser. ISBN 1578632544.
Leitch, Aaron (2010b). The Angelical Language, Volume II: An Encyclopedic
Lexicon of the Tongue of Angels. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn
Publications. ISBN 978-0738714912.
Magickal Review, ed. (2005). "The Angelic or Enochian Alphabet" (https://
web.archive.org/web/20110712100049/http://www.themagickalrevie
w.org/enochian/alphabet.php) . The Magickal Review. Archived from
the original (http://www.themagickalreview.org/enochian/alphabet.ph
p) on 2011-07-12.
Vinci, Leon (1992) [1976]. Gmicalzoma: An Enochian Dictionary. London:
Neptune Press.

Further reading
Asprem, Egil (December 13, 2006). " "Enochian" language: A proof of the
existence of angels?" (https://www.skepsis.no/%e2%80%9cenochia
n%e2%80%9d-language-a-proof-of-the-existence-of-angels/) . Skepsis.
Retrieved 2022-01-17.
 Eco, Umberto (1997). The Search for the Perfect Language. London:
Fontana Press. ISBN 0006863787.
James, Geoffrey (2009), The Enochian Evocation of Dr. John Dee,
Newburyport, MA: Weiser Books, ISBN 978-1578634538.
Leitch, Aaron (2010a). The Angelical Language, Volume I: The Complete
History and Mythos of the Tongue of Angels. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn
Publications. ISBN 978-0738714905.
Norrgrén, H. (2005). "Interpretation and the Hieroglyphic Monad: John
Dee's Reading of Pantheus's Voarchadumia". Ambix. 52 (3): 217–245.
doi:10.1179/000269805X77781 (https://doi.org/10.1179%2F0002698
05X77781) . S2CID 170087190 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Corp
usID:170087190) .
Sledge, J. J. (2010). "Between Loagaeth and Cosening: Towards an
Etiology of John Dee's Spirit Diaries". Aries. 10 (1): 1–35.
doi:10.1163/156798910X12584583444835 (https://doi.org/10.1163%
2F156798910X12584583444835) .
Turner, P. S.; Turner, R.; Cousins, R. E. (1989). Elizabethan Magic: The Art
and the Magus. Element. ISBN 978-1852300838.
Tyson, Donald (1997). Enochian Magic for Beginners: The Original System
of Angel Magic. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications.
ISBN 1567187471.
Yates, Frances (1979). The Occult Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age.
London: Routledge. ISBN 0415254094.

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