Lingua realis, lingua universalis und lingua cryptologica: Analogiebildungen bei den Universalsprachen des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts

Abstract

AbstractThis historical analysis treats the formation of universal languages with the help of analogy in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the early part of the 16th century, abbot Johannes Trithemius suggested a universal language as an extension of a cryptographic system he had proposed. Trithemius's process suggests a triangular relationship among a lingua cryptologica, which stands at the root of his system, a lingua realis – an existing language (almost exclusively Latin) that served as a point of departure, and a lingua universalis, which was developed from that base. Trithemius's ideas remained, however, rather isolated for the balance of the 16th century since other scholars were preoccupied with the search for the lingua Adamica. It was not until Bacon and Descartes discussed the phenomenon of universal communication that new universal languages were proposed. The concept of analogy can be seen in a number of mid‐17th century written‐communication methods that were based on an existing language. After various Jesuits had devised preliminary systems, Athanasius Kircher, Johann Joachim Becher and the young Leibniz – all going back to Trithemius – began again with a lingua cryptologica, used a lingua realis (Latin) as an intermediary and reference language, and developed a lingua universalis as they understood it. All three universal languages could be expressed in a mathematical‐combinatorial system, which Becher transcended by proposing a graphic, binomial method purportedly even more universally acceptable than the simply numerical systems of transmission. In all these instances we are actually dealing with reverse analogies, for what had been conceived as a system of secret communication became adapted to a universal, written exchange, thereby differing substantially from such 19th century creations as Martin Schleyer's Volapük or Dr. Zamenhof's Esperanto, the only universal language that is widely used in our times.