And...why wouldn't they just communicate telepathically?
I think they'd still have language. The whole creative process is described in terms of speech, after all--fiat lux and the naming of things. And humans were created as creatures of articulate speech... I guess it comes down to how I prefer thinking that the only things separating angels from humans is the body, and the way the body narrows down an infinity, or a plurality of perspectives, to just one.
Or did he create them as his staff and army and aides later, as humanity grew and needed looking after and Lucifer fell and things got really complicated?
All the traditions I know, which is not a whole lot, say that angels came first; the fall of Satan almost always precedes the creation of humankind (if not the world; I think Augustine says that Satan and the other evil angels were created and fell on the same day). They're the first expression of the creative principle, not embodied as humans are--which is another problem for language, because angels wouldn't have a physical aspect to it (no lungs, no breathing!)--but rather beings of pure intellection. You could probably argue that they intuitively understand each other, and can take on language and its habits for interacting with mortals, but still :D
And I was wondering what language(s) they were using for spells.
Yeah, I'd been listening, and I realized after a while that whenever someone wants to set something on fire, they say tobærnan (to incinerate... I find it fun that they use the infinitive on occasion XD). And when Nimue raises Tristan from the dead, she says something like "awac ond aris" (I think, she definitely says "awac"), "awake and arise."
Come to think of it, there are charms in OE, for things like curing a cramp or toothache or preventing a loss of cattle, but most of it's been safely Christianized for post-pagan consumption.
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I think they'd still have language. The whole creative process is described in terms of speech, after all--fiat lux and the naming of things. And humans were created as creatures of articulate speech... I guess it comes down to how I prefer thinking that the only things separating angels from humans is the body, and the way the body narrows down an infinity, or a plurality of perspectives, to just one.
Or did he create them as his staff and army and aides later, as humanity grew and needed looking after and Lucifer fell and things got really complicated?
All the traditions I know, which is not a whole lot, say that angels came first; the fall of Satan almost always precedes the creation of humankind (if not the world; I think Augustine says that Satan and the other evil angels were created and fell on the same day). They're the first expression of the creative principle, not embodied as humans are--which is another problem for language, because angels wouldn't have a physical aspect to it (no lungs, no breathing!)--but rather beings of pure intellection. You could probably argue that they intuitively understand each other, and can take on language and its habits for interacting with mortals, but still :D
And I was wondering what language(s) they were using for spells.
Yeah, I'd been listening, and I realized after a while that whenever someone wants to set something on fire, they say tobærnan (to incinerate... I find it fun that they use the infinitive on occasion XD). And when Nimue raises Tristan from the dead, she says something like "awac ond aris" (I think, she definitely says "awac"), "awake and arise."
Come to think of it, there are charms in OE, for things like curing a cramp or toothache or preventing a loss of cattle, but most of it's been safely Christianized for post-pagan consumption.