He taught Adam the description of all things, and then He displayed them to the angels and said, "Inform Me the descriptions of these things if you are truthful."
Translation endnotes
[2:31] The verse reminds us of one of the most important divine gifts: the capacity of creating abstract ideas, categorization, and discrimination. Through Adam, our common ancestor, our genetic program is made able to recognize and distinguish numerous animals, plants, devices, chemical compounds, emotions, ideas, etc. The Old Testament has a parallel account: "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found any help meet for him" (Genesis 2:19-20).