Cave Beck

Cave Beck ( * 1623, † 1706) was an English school teacher in Ipswich. He is best known as author of The Universal Character, published in London in 1657 a work in which he proposed a numerical system based on a universal language.

The language described by Beck was poorly structured. It was based on a list of 3996 English words that have been determined by an index number. The importance of these "roots" could be variously modified by the addition of letters. Beck also suggested a system for pronunciation of these digits words. He hoped that the use of his language would facilitate trade and the Christian mission of indigenous peoples.

His approach was used by George Dalgarno, who also sought the development of a universal language, criticized as being nothing else, but to enigmatical way of writing the English language ( "just a tricky way to write English ").