Babylonian

& s. [Eng. Babylon, -ian; from Lat. Babylonius; Gr. βαβυλώνιος ( Βabu lõnios); from Lat. Babylon; Gr. βαβυλών ( Babulon ), the great city on the Euphrates celebrated in Scripture, ancient cla ics, and elsewhere.] [BABEL.] IMG:content-0971.jpg:[graphic] A. As adjective : 1. Lit. Pertaining either to the ancient city or to the country of Babylon. Sir Henry (Rawlinson) published the first authentic list of early Chaldean and Babylonian monarchs." Mr. George Smith in Trans. Soc. Bib. Archæol., vol. i., p. 28. 2. Pertaining to the mystical Babylon mentioned in Rev. xvi. 19; xvii. 5: xviii. 10, 21. "Early may fly the Babylonian woe." Milton: Sonnets; Ma acre in Piedmont. B. As substantive: 1. Lit .: A native of, or, more loosely, a resident in, the ancient city or country of Babylon. after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity."- Ezek . xxiii. 15. 2. Fig . (Anciently): One who profe es astrology, the Babylonians being so much addicted to this study that the term "Babylonian numbers," in Horace, Odes, I. xi. 2, signifies astrological calculations similar to fortune-telling. There is no distinctive Babylonian language. In early times Babylon had an Accadian population and tongue of Turanian origin, with a strong and increasing Semitic element in it. ( Sayce .) From these Semites came the "cuneiform inscription of Babylon," which Max Müller conjoins with those of Nineveh, placing both under the Aramaic, or Northern cla of the Semitic family of languages. [ARAMEAN, CHALDEE, CUNEIFORM.] † Băb-y-lăn-ic, Băb-y-lon-ic-al, a [From Eng. Babylon , -ic, -ical ; Lat. Baby Tonicus, Babyloniacus; Gr. Βαβυλωνιακός (Βα bulōniakos ).] [BABYLONIAN.] 1. Lit. Pertaining to either the literal or the mystic Babylon; Babylonian. 2. Fig .: Confused, tumultuous; disorderly. "He saw plainly their antiquity, novelty; their universality, a Babylonical tyranny: tyranny: and their consent, a conspiracy."- Haring ton : Br. View of the Church, p 97. Băb-y-lon-ic-al-ly, adv . [Eng. Babylon ical;-ly.] After the manner of the Babylonians; hence, luxuriously, sumptuously. "He [the herring) is attended upon most Babylonically." Nashe:: Lenten Staffe (ed. Hindley), p. 50. Băb-y-lon-ics, s . pl . [BABYLONIC.] The English designation generally given to a fragment of universal history prior to 267 В.С., composed by Berosus, a priest of Babylon. Bab-y-lōn'-ish, a. [Eng. Babylon; -ish. In Dut. Babylonisch .] 1. Lit. Pertaining to Babylon; derived from Babylon; of Babylonian manufacture. "A goodly Babylonish garment."- Josh . vii. 21. 1. Figuratively : (1) Outlandish, barbaric; ostentatiously grand, but in bad taste; Babel-like, marked by confusion of tongues. "A Babylonish dialect Which learned pedants much affect." (2) Popish. Butler: Hudibras, I., 1. 93.