[shmerl]

Yep, it was also known to eastern mystics. And there is also a parallel in Sefer Yetzira about "stones" (letters) building "houses" (permutations), which also refers to such generative grammars.

[derefr]

Huh, I’m surprised some allusion to this didn’t come up in http://unsongbook.com/. Or maybe I just missed it!