| xenoglossia |
| Definition: The ability to speak a language you have never learned. Note: Some claim that people who speak in tongues are often xenoglossic. |
| Example: Non. Je ne parle pas la Francaise. Pas un mot! |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Greek xenos, foreign + glossa, tongue. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first citation is from 1978: "Samarin would call the event of persons speaking in a language unknown to them *xenoglossia, something different from glossolalia." Note: The first citation for the word xenoglossy is from 1914. (Amer. Speech LIII. 67) |