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*** Elizabethan English almost manages that in some Protestant circles simply because when well done, King James English sounds [[RuleOfCool cool]]. After all, would you rather your Bible said, "For unto us a child is born", or "We're gonna have a kid"? Especially if you're having Music/GeorgeFredericHandel write an {{oratorio}} for the text. A small subset of fundamentalist Protestants, the King James Only movement, holds that the King James Bible is the best Bible; depending on which flavor of King-James-Onlyism you follow, the KJV derives its authority either from the truest Hebrew and Greek sources or from God's re-revelation of the Bible to the KJV translators. Unsurprisingly, King-James-Onlyism is associated with Anglophone countries.

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*** Elizabethan English almost manages that in some Protestant circles simply because when well done, King James English sounds [[RuleOfCool cool]]. After all, would you rather your Bible said, "For unto us a child is born", or "We're gonna have a kid"? Especially if you're having Music/GeorgeFredericHandel write an {{oratorio}} for the text. [[note]]Yes, the ''Messiah''. Not the ''[[StandardSnippet Hallelujah]]'' chorus from the same work. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS3vpAWW2Zc Have a listen]].[[/note]] A small subset of fundamentalist Protestants, the King James Only movement, holds that the King James Bible is the best Bible; depending on which flavor of King-James-Onlyism you follow, the KJV derives its authority either from the truest Hebrew and Greek sources or from God's re-revelation of the Bible to the KJV translators. Unsurprisingly, King-James-Onlyism is associated with Anglophone countries.
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*** Elizabethan English almost manages that in some Protestant circles simply because when well done, King James English sounds [[RuleOfCool cool]]. After all, would you rather your Bible said, "For unto us a child is born", or "We're gonna have a kid"? A small subset of fundamentalist Protestants, the King James Only movement, holds that the King James Bible is the best Bible; depending on which flavor of King-James-Onlyism you follow, the KJV derives its authority either from the truest Hebrew and Greek sources or from God's re-revelation of the Bible to the KJV translators. Unsurprisingly, King-James-Onlyism is associated with Anglophone countries.

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*** Elizabethan English almost manages that in some Protestant circles simply because when well done, King James English sounds [[RuleOfCool cool]]. After all, would you rather your Bible said, "For unto us a child is born", or "We're gonna have a kid"? Especially if you're having Music/GeorgeFredericHandel write an {{oratorio}} for the text. A small subset of fundamentalist Protestants, the King James Only movement, holds that the King James Bible is the best Bible; depending on which flavor of King-James-Onlyism you follow, the KJV derives its authority either from the truest Hebrew and Greek sources or from God's re-revelation of the Bible to the KJV translators. Unsurprisingly, King-James-Onlyism is associated with Anglophone countries.
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** For over a thousand years (~500-1517 AD) Latin was the Sacred Language for Western Christians, and remained so for Catholics up until the 1960s, and until 2014 it was still the language in which all official Papal edicts and other high-level Vatican documents were written. It is still used in some ceremonies and masses.

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** For over a thousand years (~500-1517 AD) Latin was the Sacred Language for Western Christians, and remained so for Catholics up until the 1960s, and until 2014 it was still the language in which all official Papal edicts and other high-level Vatican documents were written. It is still used in some ceremonies and masses. After the legalization of Christianity by Constantine and the conversion of the Roman Empire, Latin began to supplant Greek as the sacred language due to the widespread use of Latin in the Empire.[[note]]The Romance languages descended from Latin into languages such as French, Italian, and Spanish after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.[[/note]]
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* Neopagans will use also (as much as they can reconstruct it) ancient languages for their rituals, ceremonies and to speak with their gods. This might include Celtic languages for Wiccans and Neo-Druids, Egyptian for Kemetics, Ancient Norse or German for Asatruar, Sumerian for Zuists, Cananean and other ancient Semitic language for Semitic Neopagans, Acient Greek for Hellenists, Classical Latin for Nova Romans and so on.

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* Neopagans will use also (as much as they can reconstruct it) ancient languages for their rituals, ceremonies and to speak with their gods. This might include Celtic languages for Wiccans and Neo-Druids, Egyptian for Kemetics, Ancient Norse or German for Asatruar, Sumerian for Zuists, Cananean and other ancient Semitic language for Semitic Neopagans, Acient Ancient Greek for Hellenists, Classical Latin for Nova Romans and so on.

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* The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Warchild" reveals that there are a number of Bajoran languages, some of which are used only within the Bajoran religion.

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* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
**
The ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Warchild" reveals that there are a number of Bajoran languages, some of which are used only within the Bajoran religion.religion. Kai Opaka wrote about a prophecy about a child from the village of Bennikar in the Kaladrys Valley helping to heal Bajor after the Cardassian occupation and how the child must be found soon. She wrote that in standard modern Bajoran on a parchment decorated on the sides with what Sisko and the Temple priests assume to be decorative, and which Sisko likened it to Islamic calligraphy. It [[PublicSecretMessage turns out to be an ancient form of the Bajoran language]] that very few know about, in which Opaka admitted that she hadn't received a vision about a child but felt the situation on Bajor was dire enough that she wrote the prophecy in the hopes that a child would unite the various factions on the planet.
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Wiki/ namespace cleaning.


See also LanguageOfMagic and BlackSpeech. TruthInTelevision, as Wiki/TheOtherWiki can [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_language attest]] to, along with a non-exhaustive list of real-life examples in their own folder.

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See also LanguageOfMagic and BlackSpeech. TruthInTelevision, as Wiki/TheOtherWiki Website/TheOtherWiki can [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_language attest]] to, along with a non-exhaustive list of real-life examples in their own folder.
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* In ''Series/BabylonFive'' Narn religious books must be read in Narn or not at all. This is because they insist that every copy of them must be ''exactly'' like the original; a book written over the course of the series ended up with a coffee ring being reproduced on every copy thanks to a moment of inattention.

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* In ''Series/BabylonFive'' Narn religious books must be read in Narn or not at all. This is because they insist that every copy of them must be ''exactly'' like the original; a book original. The Book of G'Kar which was written by G'Kar over the course latter seasons of the series ended up with is one such book. Due to Mr. Garibaldi leaving a coffee ring being on one of its pages, the ring is faithfully reproduced on every copy thanks to a moment of inattention.the book.
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* The ''Franchise/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Warchild" reveals that there are a number of Bajoran languages, some of which are used only within the Bajoran religion.

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* The ''Franchise/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Warchild" reveals that there are a number of Bajoran languages, some of which are used only within the Bajoran religion.
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* The ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Warchild" reveals that there are a number of Bajoran languages, some of which are used only within the Bajoran religion.

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* The ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' ''Franchise/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Warchild" reveals that there are a number of Bajoran languages, some of which are used only within the Bajoran religion.
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* The ''StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' [[Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse novel]] "Warchild" reveals that there are a number of Bajoran languages, some of which are used only within the Bajoran religion.
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* Similarly, Lusitanian survived as such in the Iberian Peninsula post-Romanization for a while. All incriptions found thus far are prayers to the [[Myth/LusitanianMythology local gods]], implying a ritual role after Latin became the vernacular.
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There are some religions (either fictitious or not) that use a liturgic language for their rites and ceremonies. That language must be learned by all of their adepts, and sometimes it is even forbidden to translate the {{holy book}}s to another language, mainly because it is said to have been created by God (or the gods), or to preserve its sacred euphony [[BuffySpeak (good-sounding-ness)]].

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There are some religions (either fictitious or not) that use a liturgic liturgical language for their rites and ceremonies. That language must be learned by all of their adepts, and sometimes it is even forbidden to translate the {{holy book}}s to another language, mainly because it is said to have been created by God (or the gods), or to preserve its sacred euphony [[BuffySpeak (good-sounding-ness)]].



The Jews are by far the most serious about maintaining the sanctity of their religious language. A small but significant minority of Ultra-Orthodox Jews -- particularly Hasids -- regard the use of Hebrew for day-to-day conversation as ''blasphemous''; even the ones who live in Israel refuse to learn Modern Hebrew and continue to communicate exclusively in Yiddish.
** Hebrew is also very commonly use as sacred or ceremonial language in many Occult and magickal circles. Particularly those that use theurgy (the invocation of angelical forces) and Kabalah. Damon Brand and Ben Woodcroft for example are Occult writers who often use words in Hebrew for their incantations.

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The Jews are by far the most serious about maintaining the sanctity of their religious language. A small but significant minority of Ultra-Orthodox Jews -- particularly Hasids -- regard the use of Hebrew for day-to-day conversation as ''blasphemous''; even the ones who live in Israel refuse to learn Modern Hebrew and continue to communicate exclusively in Yiddish.
** Hebrew is also very commonly use as sacred or ceremonial language in many Occult and magickal circles. Particularly those that use theurgy (the invocation of angelical forces) and Kabalah. Damon Brand and Ben Woodcroft for example are Occult writers who often use words in Hebrew for their incantations. YMMV on how accurate their use of the language is, or if they just picked it [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign because it sounded cool]].



** The Ge'ez language, the tongue of the ancient and medieval Ethiopian empires, is used as this in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.

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** The Ge'ez language, the tongue of the ancient and medieval Ethiopian empires, is used as this in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches. Ethiopian Jews also use Ge'ez, though with most of their population now living in Israel, some have switched to Hebrew.



*** DoubleSubverted by the Finnish Lutheran Church. While the official liturgic language is Finnish, the priests and clergy are required to also know Hebrew, Greek and Latin in order to be able to understand and interpret the original scriptures in the original languages.

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*** DoubleSubverted by the Finnish Lutheran Church. While the official liturgic liturgical language is Finnish, the priests and clergy are required to also know Hebrew, Greek and Latin in order to be able to understand and interpret the original scriptures in the original languages.
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**** Oddly enough, American English-speaking Orthodox churches also use King James English in their liturgy. It's also used by Catholic former-Anglicans.

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* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': The priests of Sigmar learn the Dwarven language.

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* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': While they don't hold it as sacred, Dwarves hold conversations between each other in non-Khazalid language (usually Reikspiel) if a non-dwarf is present (even if the non-dwarf can understand it), because they don't like outsiders to hear it.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': The priests of Sigmar learn the Dwarven language.language due to his history with them rather than holding their sermons in it.
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* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has a {{Zigzagged}} example. The Old Realm is the language of the creators of the world ([[OurTitansAreDifferent called primordials]]), but in the distant past, the gods [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters rebelled]] against said creators. The creators were defeated, and imprisoned in AnotherDimension called {{Hell}}. Therefore, the Old Realm turned from SacredLanguage into BlackSpeech in the perception of most of the world. It ''remains'' Sacred for the cultists who worship the defeated creators.

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* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has a {{Zigzagged}} example. The Old Realm is the language of the creators of the world ([[OurTitansAreDifferent called primordials]]), but in the distant past, the gods [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters rebelled]] against said creators. The creators were defeated, and imprisoned in AnotherDimension called {{Hell}}. Therefore, the Old Realm turned from SacredLanguage into BlackSpeech in the perception of most of the world. It ''remains'' Sacred for the cultists who worship the defeated creators.creators, and is the native language of spirits, gods and elementals. Only well-educated (meaning wealthy or high-status) humans know it, making it an example of [[ClassicalTongue high speech]] as well.
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*** The "versión Reina Valera" or Queen Valera version is the Spanish equivalent of the King James Bible, and yes, as in English, some Spanish-speaking Protestants consider it to be spiritually inspired and be the best version, although the "Reina Valera only" movement is far from be as widespread as the KJV only is in English.

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*** The "versión Reina Valera" or Queen Valera Reina-Valera version is the Spanish equivalent of the King James Bible, and yes, as in English, some Spanish-speaking Protestants consider it to be spiritually inspired and be the best version, although the "Reina Valera only" movement is far from be as widespread as the KJV only is in English.
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* Occult works may use different languages that go from Latin to Aramaic, Sumerian, Hebrew, Arabic and ancient German, to ConLans like Enochian, this would depends on many factors including the tradition, system, entity or tradition in use.

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* Occult works may use different languages that go from Latin to Aramaic, Sumerian, Hebrew, Arabic and ancient German, to ConLans {{ConLang}}s like Enochian, this would depends on many factors including the tradition, system, entity or tradition in use.
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*** The "versión Reina Valera" or Queen Valera version is the Spanish equivalent of the King James Bible, and yes, as in English, some Spanish-speaker Protestants consider it to be spiritually inspired and be the best version, although the "Reina Valera only" movement is far from be as widespread as the KJV only is in English.

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*** The "versión Reina Valera" or Queen Valera version is the Spanish equivalent of the King James Bible, and yes, as in English, some Spanish-speaker Spanish-speaking Protestants consider it to be spiritually inspired and be the best version, although the "Reina Valera only" movement is far from be as widespread as the KJV only is in English.
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* Some branches of UsefuelNotes/{{Voudoun}} use African languages most notably Swahili and some Afro-Caribbean dialects like Creole and Haitian French, for their rituals disregarding of the native tongue of the croud or the priest. Also Spanish is kind of a liturgical language for the Cuban and Caribbean Santeria as Brazilian Portugese is for Candomblé.

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* Some branches of UsefuelNotes/{{Voudoun}} UsefulNotes/{{Voudoun}} use African languages most notably Swahili and some Afro-Caribbean dialects like Creole and Haitian French, for their rituals disregarding of the native tongue of the croud or the priest. Also Spanish is kind of a liturgical language for the Cuban and Caribbean Santeria as Brazilian Portugese is for Candomblé.



** Classical Chinese also has a similar status for Taoists and Confucians.



* Neopagans will use also (as much as they can reconstruct it) ancient languages for their rituals, ceremonies and to speak with their gods. This might include Celtic languages for Wiccans and Neo-Druids, Egyptian for Kemetics, Ancient Norse or German for Asatruar, Sumerian for Zuist, Cananean and other ancient Semitic language for Semitic Neopagans, Acient Greek for Hellenists, Classical Latin for Nova Romans and so on.

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* Neopagans will use also (as much as they can reconstruct it) ancient languages for their rituals, ceremonies and to speak with their gods. This might include Celtic languages for Wiccans and Neo-Druids, Egyptian for Kemetics, Ancient Norse or German for Asatruar, Sumerian for Zuist, Zuists, Cananean and other ancient Semitic language for Semitic Neopagans, Acient Greek for Hellenists, Classical Latin for Nova Romans and so on.
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** Hebrew is also very commonly use as sacred or ceremonial language in many Occult and magickal circles. Particularly those that use theurgy (the invocation of angelical forces) and Kabalah. Damon Brand and Ben Woodcroft for example are Occult writers who often use words in Hebrew for their incantations.


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*** The "versión Reina Valera" or Queen Valera version is the Spanish equivalent of the King James Bible, and yes, as in English, some Spanish-speaker Protestants consider it to be spiritually inspired and be the best version, although the "Reina Valera only" movement is far from be as widespread as the KJV only is in English.


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** However although Pali is still the liturgical language for most Theravada schools of Buddhism, most Mahayana and Vajrayana disregard it. Tibetan is use for most ceremonies in Tibetan Buddhism[[note]]that is also the major religion in Bhutan, Mongolia and some Russian republics, and is also the most popular form of Buddhism in the West[[/note]] as is Chinese and Japanese in their respective types of Buddhism. Unorthodox Buddhist branches part of the shinshūkyō new religious movement tend to use Japanese, for example the Soka Gakkai whose ceremonies known as Gohonzon exclusively use ancient Japanese.


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* Some branches of UsefuelNotes/{{Voudoun}} use African languages most notably Swahili and some Afro-Caribbean dialects like Creole and Haitian French, for their rituals disregarding of the native tongue of the croud or the priest. Also Spanish is kind of a liturgical language for the Cuban and Caribbean Santeria as Brazilian Portugese is for Candomblé.
* Spanish is also the liturgical language for the Santa Muerte rites.
* Japanese is considered the "language of the gods" in UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}} and is the language in which its sacred text the Nihonji and Kojiki are written.
* Occult works may use different languages that go from Latin to Aramaic, Sumerian, Hebrew, Arabic and ancient German, to ConLans like Enochian, this would depends on many factors including the tradition, system, entity or tradition in use.
* Neopagans will use also (as much as they can reconstruct it) ancient languages for their rituals, ceremonies and to speak with their gods. This might include Celtic languages for Wiccans and Neo-Druids, Egyptian for Kemetics, Ancient Norse or German for Asatruar, Sumerian for Zuist, Cananean and other ancient Semitic language for Semitic Neopagans, Acient Greek for Hellenists, Classical Latin for Nova Romans and so on.
* Laveyan Satanists use a "demonized" version of Enochian developed by Anton [=LaVey=] in their rituals and Setians use Egyptian whilst Dragon Rouge will often use Latin.

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* Zigzagged with Arabic. A common misconception among (non-Arab) Muslims and non-Muslims alike is that the Arabic language is sacred. It is not -- only Literature/TheQuran is sacred. Just because you say something in Arabic won't make a (learned) Muslim agree more with you. Nevertheless, while translating the Qur'an into other languages is permitted in Islam, these translations are considered paraphrases or study aids, and not spiritually valid. This is related to its roots as an oral tradition and Arabic's nature as a phonetic language. In fact, the written form of Arabic was originally formalized in part due to the need to record the sacred verses of the Qur'an permanently and all together.
** Also, Arabic is very much a living language, with over 30 dialects and 300 million native speakers. The form used to write the Qur'an -- Classical Arabic -- ''is'' dead, however, and has been for more than a thousand years.

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* Zigzagged with Arabic. A common misconception among (non-Arab) Muslims and non-Muslims alike is that the Arabic language is sacred. It is not -- only Literature/TheQuran is sacred. Just because you say something in Arabic won't make a (learned) Muslim agree more with you. Nevertheless, while translating the Qur'an into other languages is permitted in Islam, these translations are considered paraphrases or study aids, and not spiritually valid.valid -- the Qur'an is understood to be the direct word of God as dictated to Mohammed, and consequently only the original version, written in Classical Arabic, is the actual and undiluted revelation. This is related to its roots as an oral tradition and Arabic's nature as a phonetic language. In fact, the written form of Arabic was originally formalized in part due to the need to record the sacred verses of the Qur'an permanently and all together.
** Also, Arabic is very much a living language, with over 30 thirty dialects and 300 million native speakers. The form used to write the Qur'an -- Classical Arabic -- ''is'' dead, however, and has been for more than a thousand years.



* For over a thousand years (~500-1517 AD) Latin was the Sacred Language for Western Christians, and remained so for Catholics up until the 1960s, and until 2014 it was still the language in which all official Papal edicts and other high-level Vatican documents were written. It is still used in some ceremonies and masses.
* Koine Greek for Greek Orthodox Christians. It is not to be confused with Modern Greek, its much more innovative and living daughter language, though Koine Greek is closer to Modern Greek than it is to Classical Greek (the language of UsefulNotes/AncientGreece).
* Old Church Slavonic for the Russian [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Orthodox Church]].
* Similarly, the Coptic language (the late form of the [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory ancient Egyptian]] language) for both the Coptic Orthodox (Egyptian Eastern Orthodox Christian) Church and Coptic Catholic Church.
* The same applies for the Ge'ez language (the tongue of the ancient and medieval Ethiopian empires) in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.
* The Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church and other Christians in the Near East has Syriac, the ancient form of Neo-Aramaic, a group of actual living languages spoken by several hundred thousand Assyrian Christians in the region (most have switched to speaking Arabic or, in the case of emigrant communities, other languages).
* Classical Armenian is used by Armenian Apostolic Christians and Armenian Catholics.
* Most varieties of Protestant Christianity avert this, holding that the right language for the Gospel to be spoken in is whatever the listener will understand. Thus, as living languages change, the Bible regularly needs to be re-translated from the original Hebrew (in the Old Testament) and Greek (in the New Testament). However, "most" here by no means means "all" ...
** Elizabethan English almost manages that in some Protestant circles simply because when well done, King James English sounds [[RuleOfCool cool]]. After all, would you rather your Bible said, "For unto us a child is born", or "We're gonna have a kid"? A small subset of fundamentalist Protestants, the King James Only movement, holds that the King James Bible is the best Bible; depending on which flavor of King-James-Onlyism you follow, the KJV derives its authority either from the truest Hebrew and Greek sources or from God's re-revelation of the Bible to the KJV translators. Unsurprisingly, King-James-Onlyism is associated with Anglophone countries.
** Interestingly, some Anabaptist congregations--particularly Old Order Amish--in America still use Alemannic High German in church even though they speak English in their daily lives.
** DoubleSubverted by the Finnish Lutheran Church. While the official liturgic language is Finnish, the priests and clergy are required to also know Hebrew, Greek and Latin in order to be able to understand and interpret the original scriptures in the original languages.
* Hinduism: the old Hindu vedas (scriptures) are written in Sanskrit. Pāṇini wrote on Sanskrit morphology and syntax for the sake of preserving the language as it was intended by the gods. He lived during the 4th century BC and is considered to be the first linguist. Since Sanskrit is one of the oldest known Indo-European languages and therefore very similar to ancestral forms of Latin, Greek, Russian, Persian, and even English, this work is one of the most important in the history of linguistics, up there with the Rosetta Stone. Ironically, Paninian Sanskrit was actually a modest simplification of the older forms used in the Rig-Veda, making Sanskrit in a sense one of the earliest recorded {{ConLang}}s.
** Modern Hindi is this to Indo-Caribbean people in UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}} and UsefulNotes/TrinidadAndTobago. To clarify, the Indo-Caribbean people are descendants of indentured servants brought over by the British from India to the Caribbean. Over the years, Hindi stopped being the primary language, and everyone now speaks English (albeit a Caribbean dialect of it) as the primary language. Hindi only survives in religious texts and among the priesthood and temple singing groups, and your average Hindu in the Caribbean thinks of Hindi as a liturgical language, not something that one would speak in everyday life. People in India, of course, still speak Hindi as their most common language, and the linguistic differences between the Indians and the English-speaking Indo-Caribbeans often results in massive backlash today when Indians accuse Indo-Caribbeans of "acting white" by speaking English as their primary language. The Indo-Caribbean people, for their part, retort that even though their ancestors were Indian, they now consider themselves to be a different--albeit related--culture.

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* Christianity has and has had several, with different confessions and branches tending to each use their own:
**
For over a thousand years (~500-1517 AD) Latin was the Sacred Language for Western Christians, and remained so for Catholics up until the 1960s, and until 2014 it was still the language in which all official Papal edicts and other high-level Vatican documents were written. It is still used in some ceremonies and masses.
* ** Koine Greek for Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic Christians. It is not to be confused with Modern Greek, its much more innovative and living daughter language, though Koine Greek is closer to Modern Greek than it is to Classical Greek (the language of UsefulNotes/AncientGreece).
*
UsefulNotes/AncientGreece). Koine Greek is also the language in which most of the New Testament was originally written, which largely serves as the root of its modern status.
**
Old Church Slavonic for the Russian [[UsefulNotes/OrthodoxChristianity Orthodox Church]].
* Similarly, the ** The Coptic language (the late form of the [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory ancient Egyptian]] language) for both the Coptic Orthodox (Egyptian Eastern Orthodox Christian) Church and Coptic Catholic Church.
* ** The same applies for the Ge'ez language (the language, the tongue of the ancient and medieval Ethiopian empires) empires, is used as this in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.
* ** The Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church and other Christians in the Near East has use Syriac, the ancient form of Neo-Aramaic, a group of actual living languages spoken by several hundred thousand Assyrian Christians in the region (most have switched to speaking Arabic or, in the case of emigrant communities, other languages).
* ** Classical Armenian is used by Armenian Apostolic Christians and Armenian Catholics.
* ** Most varieties of Protestant Christianity avert this, holding that the right language for the Gospel to be spoken in is whatever the listener will understand. Thus, as living languages change, the Bible regularly needs to be re-translated from the original Hebrew (in the Old Testament) and Greek (in the New Testament). However, "most" here by no means means "all" ...
** *** Elizabethan English almost manages that in some Protestant circles simply because when well done, King James English sounds [[RuleOfCool cool]]. After all, would you rather your Bible said, "For unto us a child is born", or "We're gonna have a kid"? A small subset of fundamentalist Protestants, the King James Only movement, holds that the King James Bible is the best Bible; depending on which flavor of King-James-Onlyism you follow, the KJV derives its authority either from the truest Hebrew and Greek sources or from God's re-revelation of the Bible to the KJV translators. Unsurprisingly, King-James-Onlyism is associated with Anglophone countries.
** *** Interestingly, some Anabaptist congregations--particularly congregations -- particularly Old Order Amish--in Amish -- in America still use Alemannic High German in church even though they speak English in their daily lives.
** *** DoubleSubverted by the Finnish Lutheran Church. While the official liturgic language is Finnish, the priests and clergy are required to also know Hebrew, Greek and Latin in order to be able to understand and interpret the original scriptures in the original languages.
* Hinduism: the Hinduism:
** The
old Hindu vedas (scriptures) are written in Sanskrit. Pāṇini wrote on Sanskrit morphology and syntax for the sake of preserving the language as it was intended by the gods. He lived during the 4th century BC and is considered to be the first linguist. Since Sanskrit is one of the oldest known Indo-European languages and therefore very similar to ancestral forms of Latin, Greek, Russian, Persian, and even English, this work is one of the most important in the history of linguistics, up there with the Rosetta Stone. Ironically, Paninian Sanskrit was actually a modest simplification of the older forms used in the Rig-Veda, making Sanskrit in a sense one of the earliest recorded {{ConLang}}s.
** Modern Hindi is this to Indo-Caribbean people in UsefulNotes/{{Guyana}} and UsefulNotes/TrinidadAndTobago. To clarify, the Indo-Caribbean people are descendants of indentured servants brought over by the British from India to the Caribbean. Over the years, Hindi stopped being the primary language, and everyone now speaks English (albeit a Caribbean dialect of it) English as the primary language. Hindi only survives in religious texts and among the priesthood and temple singing groups, and your average Hindu in the Caribbean thinks of Hindi as a liturgical language, not something that one would speak in everyday life. People in India, of course, still speak Hindi as their most common language, and the linguistic differences between the Indians and the English-speaking Indo-Caribbeans often results in massive backlash today when Indians accuse Indo-Caribbeans of "acting white" by speaking English as their primary language. The Indo-Caribbean people, for their part, retort that even though their ancestors were Indian, they now consider themselves to be a different--albeit related--culture.different -- albeit related -- culture.



* Sumerian for the Akkadians and Babylonians. Historians record that the Akkadians, always fond of oddball religious practices, had at least one ritual involving two people whispering the same prayer into a bull's ears -- Sumerian in one ear, Akkadian in the other.
* Etruscan survived for some time as a ritual language after the language had "died". There was even a (now lost) Etruscan-Latin dictionary (which is kind of a shame, given that we only partially understand Etruscan now).

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* Sumerian was this for the Akkadians and Babylonians.Babylonians, long after Akkadian had established itself as the primary spoken language in Mesopotamia. Historians record that the Akkadians, always fond of oddball religious practices, had at least one ritual involving two people whispering the same prayer into a bull's ears -- Sumerian in one ear, Akkadian in the other.
* Etruscan survived for some time as a ritual language after the language had "died".otherwise faded from use. There was even a (now lost) Etruscan-Latin dictionary (which is kind of a shame, given that we only partially understand Etruscan now).

Changed: 1598

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* Arabic for Muslims. The translation of the Qur'an into other languages is permitted in Islam, but these translations are considered paraphrases or study aids, and not spiritually valid. This is related to its roots as an oral tradition and Arabic's nature as a phonetic language. In fact, the written form of Arabic was originally formalized in part due to the need to record the sacred verses of the Qur'an permanently and all together.
** Various sects differ on whether required prayers can or should be spoken in local vernacular or only in Arabic.
** A common misconception of (non-Arab) Muslims and non-Muslims alike is that the Arabic language is sacred. It is not -- only the Qur'an is sacred. Just because you say something in Arabic won't make a (learned) Muslim agree more with you.

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* Zigzagged with Arabic. A common misconception among (non-Arab) Muslims and non-Muslims alike is that the Arabic for Muslims. The translation of language is sacred. It is not -- only Literature/TheQuran is sacred. Just because you say something in Arabic won't make a (learned) Muslim agree more with you. Nevertheless, while translating the Qur'an into other languages is permitted in Islam, but these translations are considered paraphrases or study aids, and not spiritually valid. This is related to its roots as an oral tradition and Arabic's nature as a phonetic language. In fact, the written form of Arabic was originally formalized in part due to the need to record the sacred verses of the Qur'an permanently and all together.
** Also, Arabic is very much a living language, with over 30 dialects and 300 million native speakers. The form used to write the Qur'an -- Classical Arabic -- ''is'' dead, however, and has been for more than a thousand years.
** Various Muslim sects differ on whether required prayers can or should be spoken in local vernacular or only in Arabic.
** A common misconception
Arabic. For example, there was a controversy when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first president of (non-Arab) Muslims UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} and non-Muslims alike is a champion of secularism, demanded that the call to prayer, adhan, be broadcast in native Turkish, a decision without precedent in the Muslim world at the time (it was restored back to Arabic language is sacred. It is not -- only the Qur'an is sacred. Just because you say something in Arabic won't make a (learned) Muslim agree more with you.after his party fell from power).



* Greek for Greek Orthodox Christians. Note that Liturgical Greek is rather archaic and not entirely the same thing as Modern Greek--although it's closer to Modern Greek than it is to Classical Greek.

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* Koine Greek for Greek Orthodox Christians. Note that Liturgical It is not to be confused with Modern Greek, its much more innovative and living daughter language, though Koine Greek is rather archaic and not entirely the same thing as Modern Greek--although it's closer to Modern Greek than it is to Classical Greek.Greek (the language of UsefulNotes/AncientGreece).



* Similarly, the Coptic language (the late form of the [[AncientEgypt ancient Egyptian]] language) for both the Coptic Orthodox (Egyptian Eastern Orthodox Christian) Church and Coptic Catholic Church

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* Similarly, the Coptic language (the late form of the [[AncientEgypt [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory ancient Egyptian]] language) for both the Coptic Orthodox (Egyptian Eastern Orthodox Christian) Church and Coptic Catholic ChurchChurch.



* The Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church and other Christians in the Near East use different versions of Syriac (which were divided into dialects from separate usage) or languages derived from them.

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* The Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church and other Christians in the Near East use different versions has Syriac, the ancient form of Syriac (which were divided into dialects from separate usage) or Neo-Aramaic, a group of actual living languages derived from them.spoken by several hundred thousand Assyrian Christians in the region (most have switched to speaking Arabic or, in the case of emigrant communities, other languages).
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* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplayingGame'': The priests of Sigmar learn the Dwarven language.

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* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplayingGame'': ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'': The priests of Sigmar learn the Dwarven language.

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* The fact that the Lemurians of Taylor Anderson’s ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' series use [[spoiler: Latin]] as their ecclesiastical language becomes a significant plot point, as it simplifies the process of learning eachother’s languages and also proves that other humans have come to the [[TheMultiverse altEarth]] in the past. They soon discover that the Grik also use a human language, though they use it as the "Scientific Tongue" rather than for religious purposes. [[spoiler: ''English''.]]

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* ''Literature/AcornaSeries'': One planet considers Acorna a god because she speaks the native tongue of ''her'' people. They had been visited many ''many'' years ago by [[spoiler:Aari and Grimalken]], and their priests had miraculously picked up the language in a single visit.
* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': The language of the deeply religious Ulgo people. It's the only exception to the CommonTongue spoken by everyone else on the planet.
* ''Literature/CaptiveOfTheOrcs'': Language is a major source of spiritual power. Dallet develops spiritual powers as he analyzes the holy name, one letter at a time.
* In ''Literature/TheDeclineOfTheWest'', Oswald Spengler speculates that in the Stone Age, language (as in, speaking) may have been restricted to the priests, just as was the case with writing in some cultures.
* ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'':
The fact that the Lemurians of Taylor Anderson’s ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'' series use [[spoiler: Latin]] as their ecclesiastical language becomes a significant plot point, as it simplifies the process of learning eachother’s languages and also proves that other humans have come to the [[TheMultiverse altEarth]] in the past. They soon discover that the Grik also use a human language, though they use it as the "Scientific Tongue" rather than for religious purposes. [[spoiler: ''English''.]]



* In Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/AcornaSeries'', one planet considers Acorna a god because she speaks the native tongue of ''her'' people. They had been visited many ''many'' years ago by [[spoiler:Aari and Grimalken]], and their priests had miraculously picked up the language in a single visit.
* [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker German philosopher]] Oswald Spengler speculated in his non-fiction book ''Literature/TheDeclineOfTheWest'' that in the Stone Age, language (as in, speaking) may have been restricted to the priests, just as was the case with writing in some cultures.

to:

* In Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/AcornaSeries'', one planet considers Acorna ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'': This becomes a god because she speaks plot point in the native tongue of ''her'' people. They had been visited many ''many'' years ago by [[spoiler:Aari and Grimalken]], and their priests had miraculously picked up third novel. The church that runs Pardal has (mostly) preserved the language of the Fourth Empire. Calling it the Holy Tongue, knowledge of it is limited to the priesthood. Several native characters have freakouts when the protagonists prove to be fully fluent in a single visit.
* [[UsefulNotes/DichterAndDenker German philosopher]] Oswald Spengler speculated in his non-fiction book ''Literature/TheDeclineOfTheWest''
that in language, which according to their religion should be completely impossible for "demons" to speak.
* ''Literature/FirebirdTrilogy'': The Sentinels use Ehretan,
the Stone Age, language (as in, speaking) may have been restricted to of the priests, just as was the case with writing in some cultures.world they originally came from, for their religious ceremonies, and one of their holy books is forbidden from being translated out of Ehretan.



** Quenya appears to have been this for the Númenoreans, and possibly for others as well. Downplayed, since from the perspective of other less powerful nations, especially after Numenor's corruption by Sauron, it was merely a "What rich people spoke" ClassicalTongue.
** The Dwarven language Khuzdul is a sacred tongue that's also in common use. As it was gifted to them by Aulë, the PhysicalGod who created the dwarves, they treat it as holy and never teach it to outsiders.
* In the Literature/FirebirdTrilogy, the Sentinels use Ehretan, the language of the world they originally came from, for their religious ceremonies, and one of their holy books is forbidden from being translated out of Ehretan.
* Language is a major source of spiritual power in Epstein's Literature/CaptiveOfTheOrcs. Dallet develops spiritual powers as he analyzes the holy name, one letter at a time.

to:

** Quenya appears to have been this for the Númenoreans, and possibly for others as well.Númenoreans. Downplayed, since from the perspective of other less powerful nations, especially after Numenor's corruption by Sauron, it was merely a "What rich people spoke" ClassicalTongue.
** The Dwarven language Khuzdul dwarven language, Khuzdul, is a sacred tongue that's also in common use. As it was gifted to them by Aulë, the PhysicalGod who created the dwarves, they treat it as holy and never teach it to outsiders.
* In ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'': Alluded to when D'Artagnan and his friends summarize the Literature/FirebirdTrilogy, reason for the Sentinels use Ehretan, the language siege of the world they originally came from, for their religious ceremonies, and one of their holy books Huguenot-held La Rochelle in which they're taking part is forbidden from that the Huguenots pray in French while most Frenchmen, being translated out of Ehretan.
* Language is a major source of spiritual power
Catholic, pray in Epstein's Literature/CaptiveOfTheOrcs. Dallet develops spiritual powers as he analyzes the holy name, one letter at a time.Latin.



* The language of the deeply religious Ulgo people in ''Literature/TheBelgariad''. It's the only exception to the CommonTongue spoken by everyone else on the planet.
* Becomes a plot point in the third novel of the ''Literature/EmpireFromTheAshes'' trilogy. The church that runs Pardal has (mostly) preserved the language of the Fourth Empire. Calling it the Holy Tongue, knowledge of it is limited to the priesthood. Several native characters have freakouts when the protagonists prove to be fully fluent in that language, which according to their religion should be completely impossible for "demons" to speak.
* Alluded to in ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', where D'Artagnan and his friends summarize the reason for the siege of the Huguenot-held La Rochelle (in which they were taking part) is that the Huguenots pray in French while most Frenchmen, being Catholic, pray in Latin.



* A DiscussedTrope in [[Recap/FarscapeS01E14JeremiahCrichton one episode]] of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' with a long-lost colony of [[HumanAlien Sebaciens]] that were loyal to the Hynerian throne. Over time one family was able to take the role of priests simply by being the only members who could read the Hynerian language, elevating the royal family from sovereigns to a god complete with a messianic prophecy of his return. When an actual Hynerian royal stumbled on the place centuries later he read their sacred texts, which they had been so confident nobody else could read that they stated all of this outright in them. Needless to say, he was pissed.

to:

* A DiscussedTrope ''Series/{{Farscape}}'': This is {{discussed|Trope}} in [[Recap/FarscapeS01E14JeremiahCrichton one episode]] of ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' "[[Recap/FarscapeS01E14JeremiahCrichton Jeremiah Crichton]]" with a long-lost colony of [[HumanAlien Sebaciens]] that were loyal to the Hynerian throne. Over time time, one family was able to take the role of priests simply by being the only members who could read the Hynerian language, elevating the royal family from sovereigns to a god complete with a messianic prophecy of his return. When an actual Hynerian royal stumbled on the place centuries later he read their sacred texts, which they had been so confident nobody else could read that they stated all of this outright in them. Needless to say, he was pissed.



* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Binary for tech priests. It's literally binary; their various implants include an audio modem so they can transfer information faster than speaking.
** It's not ''holy'' per se, but High Gothic is a more formal tongue used by the elite and the Administratum.
* In the TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy Roleplaying game, the priests of Sigmar learn the Dwarven language.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has the language called Celestial for the native tongue of the heavenly planes. For evil cultists, there is Abyssal and Infernal, the languages of demons and devils, respectively.\\
\\
Druidic is also an example: all druids know Druidic, and if a druid teaches Druidic to a non-druid, they lose all their druid powers.

to:

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' has Binary for tech priests. It's literally binary; their various implants include an audio modem so they can transfer information faster than speaking.
''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** It's not ''holy'' per se, but High Gothic is a more formal tongue used by the elite and the Administratum.
* In the TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy Roleplaying game, the priests of Sigmar learn the Dwarven language.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has the language called
Celestial for is the native tongue of the heavenly planes. planes, and is used a sacred language by the worshippers of good deities. For evil cultists, cultists there is are Abyssal and Infernal, the languages of demons and devils, respectively.\\
\\
respectively.
**
Druidic is also an example: the sacred, secret language of the druids: all druids know Druidic, and if a druid teaches Druidic to a non-druid, non-druid they lose all their druid powers.



* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' Magniloquentia, the ClassicalTongue of the city of Triskellion, is the Church of S'allumer's holy language, and required to cast Sacerdotal magic (but not the WhiteMagic most priests cast). Though most of their scripture is written in modern Calabrese and few priests know how to speak or read the old tongue.

to:

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'' ''TabletopGame/{{Ironclaw}}'': Magniloquentia, the ClassicalTongue of the city of Triskellion, is the Church of S'allumer's holy language, and required to cast Sacerdotal magic (but not the WhiteMagic most priests cast). Though most of their scripture is written in modern Calabrese and few priests know how to speak or read the old tongue.tongue.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has Binary for tech priests. It's literally binary; their various implants include an audio modem so they can transfer information faster than speaking.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplayingGame'': The priests of Sigmar learn the Dwarven language.



* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' has the cultists speaking in "Domus Durbendia", a fake language similar to Sanskrit/Latin.
* In the VideoGame/DeptHeaven series, Asgard has a special classical language that's referred to as the Sacred Tongue. While all characters from Asgard conveniently speak Japanese(/English) for the sake of the players and other characters, someone's fluency in the Sacred Tongue (which is rendered in Greek letters) is incontrovertible evidence that they are from Asgard. This is an early plot point in ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'', where Ursula's knowledge of the Sacred Tongue doesn't quite match up with the image Hector wants the main characters to have of her.
* Every one of the Elder Power cults in the ''VideoGame/NexusWar'' series has a cultic language that only members of the cult can understand. A few of the ReligionOfEvil cults were too insane and disorganized to come up with their own language and hijacked a dead language from somewhere else.

to:

* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' has the cultists speaking in "Domus Durbendia", a fake constructed language similar to Sanskrit/Latin.
Sanskrit and Latin.
* In the VideoGame/DeptHeaven series, ''VideoGame/DeptHeaven'': Asgard has a special classical language that's referred to as the Sacred Tongue. While all characters from Asgard conveniently speak Japanese(/English) for the sake of the players and other characters, someone's fluency in the Sacred Tongue (which is rendered in Greek letters) is incontrovertible evidence that they are from Asgard. This is an early plot point in ''VideoGame/RivieraThePromisedLand'', where Ursula's knowledge of the Sacred Tongue doesn't quite match up with the image Hector wants the main characters to have of her.
* ''VideoGame/NexusWar'': Every one of the Elder Power cults in the ''VideoGame/NexusWar'' series has a cultic language that only members of the cult can understand. A few of the ReligionOfEvil cults were too insane and disorganized to come up with their own language and hijacked a dead language from somewhere else.



The Jews are by far the most serious about maintaining the sanctity of their religious language. A small but significant minority of Ultra-Orthodox Jews--particularly Hasids--regard the use of Hebrew for day-to-day conversation as ''blasphemous''; even the ones who live in Israel refuse to learn Modern Hebrew and continue to communicate exclusively in Yiddish.

to:

The Jews are by far the most serious about maintaining the sanctity of their religious language. A small but significant minority of Ultra-Orthodox Jews--particularly Hasids--regard Jews -- particularly Hasids -- regard the use of Hebrew for day-to-day conversation as ''blasphemous''; even the ones who live in Israel refuse to learn Modern Hebrew and continue to communicate exclusively in Yiddish.



** A common misconception of (non-Arab) Muslims and non-Muslims alike is that the Arabic language is sacred. It is not-- only the Qur'an is sacred. Just because you say something in Arabic won't make a (learned) Muslim agree more with you.

to:

** A common misconception of (non-Arab) Muslims and non-Muslims alike is that the Arabic language is sacred. It is not-- not -- only the Qur'an is sacred. Just because you say something in Arabic won't make a (learned) Muslim agree more with you.



* Sumerian for the Akkadians and Babylonians. Historians record that the Akkadians, always fond of oddball religious practices, had at least one ritual involving two people whispering the same prayer into a bull's ears--Sumerian in one ear, Akkadian in the other.

to:

* Sumerian for the Akkadians and Babylonians. Historians record that the Akkadians, always fond of oddball religious practices, had at least one ritual involving two people whispering the same prayer into a bull's ears--Sumerian ears -- Sumerian in one ear, Akkadian in the other.
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* Similarly, the Coptic language (the late form of the [[AncientEgypt ancient Egyptian]] language) in the Coptic Orthodox (Egyptian Christian) Church.

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* Similarly, the Coptic language (the late form of the [[AncientEgypt ancient Egyptian]] language) in for both the Coptic Orthodox (Egyptian Eastern Orthodox Christian) Church.Church and Coptic Catholic Church

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Removed: 266

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* In ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'', the Derethi religion has Fjordell, language of the Empire where the Derethi church is centered, as its official language. At one point, Derethi high priest and AntiVillain Hrathen debates with himself whether or not it's right to preach the religion to new converts in their native tongue, since Jaddeth (the Derethi god) revealed himself in Fjordell[[note]]May not sound like a big deal to us, but to the extremely dogmatic Derethi, it's a pretty significant hurdle[[/note]]. Being the MagnificentBastard that he is, Hrathen comes up with an elegant solution: Preach to people in their native language, ''then'' teach them Fjordell once they're converted.
** This trope is parodied in another of Creator/BrandonSanderson's works, ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'', with "High Imperial" which the readers will recognize as the rather ridiculous sounding [[JiveTurkey thieves' cant]] from the ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy.

to:

* In ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'', the Derethi religion has Fjordell, language of the Empire where the Derethi church is centered, as its official language. At one point, Derethi high priest and AntiVillain Hrathen debates with himself whether or not it's right to preach the religion to new converts in their native tongue, since Jaddeth (the Derethi god) revealed himself in Fjordell[[note]]May not sound like a big deal to us, but to the extremely dogmatic Derethi, it's a pretty significant hurdle[[/note]]. Being the MagnificentBastard that he is, Hrathen comes up with an elegant solution: Preach to people in their native language, ''then'' teach them Fjordell once they're converted.
**
converted. This trope is parodied in another of Creator/BrandonSanderson's works, ''Literature/TheAlloyOfLaw'', with "High Imperial" which the readers will recognize as the rather ridiculous sounding [[JiveTurkey thieves' cant]] from the ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy.



* For over a thousand years (~500-1517 AD) Latin was the Sacred Language for western Christians, and remained so for Catholics up until the 1960s, and until 2014 it was still the language in which all official Papal edicts and other high-level Vatican documents were written. It is still used in some ceremonies and masses.

to:

* For over a thousand years (~500-1517 AD) Latin was the Sacred Language for western Western Christians, and remained so for Catholics up until the 1960s, and until 2014 it was still the language in which all official Papal edicts and other high-level Vatican documents were written. It is still used in some ceremonies and masses.



* The Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox Church and other Christians in the Near East use different versions of Syriac (which were divided into dialects from separate usage) or languages derived from them.
* Classical Armenian is used by Armenian Apostolic Christians and Armenian Catholics.



** DoubleSubverted by the Finnish Lutheran Church. While the official liturgic language is Finnish, the priests and clergy are required to know also Hebrew, Greek and Latin in order to be able to understand and interpret the original scriptures in the original languages.
* Hinduism: The old Hindu vedas (scriptures) are written in Sanskrit. Pāṇini wrote on Sanskrit morphology and syntax for the sake of preserving the language as it was intended by the gods. He lived during the 4th century BC and is considered to be the first linguist. Since Sanskrit is one of the oldest known Indo-European languages and therefore very similar to ancestral forms of Latin, Greek, Russian, Persian, and even English, this work is one of the most important in the history of linguistics, up there with the Rosetta Stone. Ironically, Paninian Sanskrit was actually a modest simplification of the older forms used in the Rig-Veda, making Sanskrit in a sense one of the earliest recorded {{ConLang}}s.

to:

** DoubleSubverted by the Finnish Lutheran Church. While the official liturgic language is Finnish, the priests and clergy are required to also know also Hebrew, Greek and Latin in order to be able to understand and interpret the original scriptures in the original languages.
* Hinduism: The the old Hindu vedas (scriptures) are written in Sanskrit. Pāṇini wrote on Sanskrit morphology and syntax for the sake of preserving the language as it was intended by the gods. He lived during the 4th century BC and is considered to be the first linguist. Since Sanskrit is one of the oldest known Indo-European languages and therefore very similar to ancestral forms of Latin, Greek, Russian, Persian, and even English, this work is one of the most important in the history of linguistics, up there with the Rosetta Stone. Ironically, Paninian Sanskrit was actually a modest simplification of the older forms used in the Rig-Veda, making Sanskrit in a sense one of the earliest recorded {{ConLang}}s.



* The original Buddhist scriptures (sutras) were written in Pali/Maghadi, which is referred to in linguistics as a Prakrit ("common speech", compared to Sanskrit, which literally meant "refined speech" and approximates rather closely to the fictional use of [[ClassicalTongue "high speech"]]). Pali in turn may be ancestral to Sinhala, the most common native tongue in Sri Lanka. [[note]]Nobody seems to know for sure the name used by native speakers for Sanskrit and its relatives and descendants, although at one point it may have simply been known as ''vak'', which literally just means "speech" and is probably cognate with "voice" and "vocal". This is surprisingly common in modern languages; for example, in Spain, the Asturian and Aragonese languages, both close relatives of Spanish and Portuguese, are called respectively ''bable'' and ''fabla'', which both more or less mean "how we talk around here".[[/note]]

to:

* The original Buddhist scriptures (sutras) were written in Pali/Maghadi, which is referred to in linguistics as a Prakrit ("common speech", compared to Sanskrit, which literally meant "refined speech" and approximates rather closely to the fictional use of [[ClassicalTongue "high speech"]]). Pali in turn may be ancestral to Sinhala, the most common native tongue in Sri Lanka. [[note]]Nobody seems to know for sure the name used by native speakers for Sanskrit and its relatives and descendants, although at one point it may have simply been known as ''vak'', which literally just means "speech" and is probably cognate with "voice" and "vocal". This is surprisingly common in modern languages; for example, in Spain, the Asturian and Aragonese languages, both close relatives of Spanish and Portuguese, are called respectively ''bable'' and ''fabla'', which both more or less mean "how we talk around here".[[/note]]



* Etruscan survived for some time as a ritual language after the language had "died". There was even a (now lost) Etruscan-Latin dictionary. (Which is kind of a shame, given that we only partially understand Etruscan now.)

to:

* Etruscan survived for some time as a ritual language after the language had "died". There was even a (now lost) Etruscan-Latin dictionary. (Which dictionary (which is kind of a shame, given that we only partially understand Etruscan now.)now).

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