The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 6 - Peculiarities of Masonic Language 333
6. Peculiarities of the Masonic Language
With empty Names of Kings and Lords
The Mystic Lodge may sooth the Fancy,
Words without Meaning it affords,
and Signs without significancy. 1025
Does the Masonic language consist of "unintelligible Gabble" and "Solemn
Fooleries" 1026 ? What about its strange words like "Macbenac," of which Coil
says in his encyclopedia that with regard to inventions like this, "Hebrew roots
could be found for all of them but, in all probability, they were simply sounds to
confuse the uninitiated." 1027 To say it following the symbolism of Mark Masonry
- is the Masonic language too wide of the mark? Many critics have stated that the
Masonic parlance is overloaded with meaningless, pompous, and exaggerated
expressions, and Frederick the Great, an eminent Mason, allegedly answered,
when asked what Masonry is, "a grand nothing." 1028
With regard to its alleged senselessness, we can analyze two components of
the Masonic language separately - the signs and the diction. Are the signs
without significance? Chapter 7, on rituals, shows that signs can be distinguished
between "meaningful" and "meaningless" signs, such as ones that symbolize a
ritualistic action, like the "heave-over" of the keystone in Mark Masonry, or ones
like rubbing your nose or touching the corner of your mouth, which seem totally
devoid of inherent sense and are simply attributed some meaning. In Craft
Masonry, generally the signs are "meaningful" per se. They denote, for example,
the forms of the symbolic punishments attributed to each degree (e.g., having
your throat cut, which is performed by making with the flat hand the movement
of cutting across your throat). Signs of the other category are mainly found in
imitative orders, mock orders, or antique female Freemasonry.
The difficulty with spoken language is that there is no logic in saying
"Masons speak like that." The signs are mostly uniform, every Mason uses the
same signs, but the diction (apart from the fixed ritualistic sayings) depends on
the individual speaker. Some Masonic orators delight in using metaphors and
symbolism abundantly, while other Masons' utterances are incredibly dry. Since
the sources were created mainly by highly educated Masonic authors or
historians, it is natural that they employed as many rhetorical figures as they
knew in connection with their Craft, in order to adorn it. However, the ordinary
Mason will not vary much in his conversation from any profane speaker, at least
not in public, since he will not reveal his being a Mason. He might use a few
allusions, and that is about all. So, as a profane one might never tell a Mason
1025
Cited from "Ode to the Grand Khaibar," 1726, in Gould's Collected Essays & Papers relating to
Freemasonry, p. 142.
1026
Ibid.
1027
Cf. CME, p. 394. Italics added.
1028
Thus quoted in Moore, Masonic Review, vol. XXXIX, 1871, p. 38.