Proper Names and Political Claims: Semitic Echoes as Foundations for Claims to the Nephite Throne PDF feed of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
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Abstract: The Book of Mormon contains examples of phonemes in character names that resemble Semitic root words. The possible meanings of the names and their timing in the Book of Mormon narrative provide a deeper level of context to the Nephite political challenges in the books of Mosiah through 3 Nephi. Specifically, the English phonemes for the Hebrew and Arabic root-word for “king,” M-L-K, appear in character names in the Book of Mormon narrative when the people of Zarahemla, who were descended from Mulek, the last king of Judah, are discovered by the Nephites in the book of Omni. “King” names then appear frequently during the time in the narrative in which there are attempts to reestablish a monarchy during the early reign of the judges. “King” names disappear after “Moroni put an end to those king-men, that there were not any known by the appellation of king-men” (Alma 51:21, 62:9). The presence and timing of these “king” names suggests that the Mulekite claim to the local Israelite throne resonated rhetorically through Nephite politics for over a century and was violently contested in the multiple civil and external wars in the books of Alma through 3 Nephi.
Readers of the Book of Mormon are exposed to over 300 proper names of characters and places.1 Many of the names are Biblical names, or direct copies of Biblical names, but many of the names in the Book of Mormon are unique to that book. While early critics once attributed the unique names to the active imagination of Joseph Smith, Jr., the translator, [Page 410]English-language scholars of the last century have had more access to ancient Near Eastern texts and look at the unique names as evidence that supports the historicity of the Book of Mormon as an ancient text. For an early example, in 1957, Hugh Nibley gave his opinion that the names of Lehi’s children were “pure Arabic” and that some of the unique proper names in the Book of Mormon resembled “Egyptian and Hebrew … along with a sprinkling of Hittite, Arabic, and Greek names.”2 Scholars have built on that initial work, and much has now been written about linguistic evidence for Book of Mormon authenticity. Summarizing this work, Kyler Rasmussen writes that “these efforts have yielded dozens of plausible Semitic and Egyptian etymological connections and dozens of meaningful wordplays that suggest that these names were far from random selections from Joseph’s brain.”3
We will discuss material that implicitly provides evidence that can contribute to the conversation of authenticity; however, this is mainly focused on understanding the narrative of the Book of Mormon more deeply. It will, therefore, focus on describing linguistic patterns that add to the work of other scholars to make connections between seemingly unrelated events and themes. These connections help further the work to more “fully comprehend the reality” ...
Abstract: The Book of Mormon contains examples of phonemes in character names that resemble Semitic root words. The possible meanings of the names and their timing in the Book of Mormon narrative provide a deeper level of context to the Nephite political challenges in the books of Mosiah through 3 Nephi. Specifically, the English phonemes for the Hebrew and Arabic root-word for “king,” M-L-K, appear in character names in the Book of Mormon narrative when the people of Zarahemla, who were descended from Mulek, the last king of Judah, are discovered by the Nephites in the book of Omni. “King” names then appear frequently during the time in the narrative in which there are attempts to reestablish a monarchy during the early reign of the judges. “King” names disappear after “Moroni put an end to those king-men, that there were not any known by the appellation of king-men” (Alma 51:21, 62:9). The presence and timing of these “king” names suggests that the Mulekite claim to the local Israelite throne resonated rhetorically through Nephite politics for over a century and was violently contested in the multiple civil and external wars in the books of Alma through 3 Nephi.
Readers of the Book of Mormon are exposed to over 300 proper names of characters and places.1 Many of the names are Biblical names, or direct copies of Biblical names, but many of the names in the Book of Mormon are unique to that book. While early critics once attributed the unique names to the active imagination of Joseph Smith, Jr., the translator, [Page 410]English-language scholars of the last century have had more access to ancient Near Eastern texts and look at the unique names as evidence that supports the historicity of the Book of Mormon as an ancient text. For an early example, in 1957, Hugh Nibley gave his opinion that the names of Lehi’s children were “pure Arabic” and that some of the unique proper names in the Book of Mormon resembled “Egyptian and Hebrew … along with a sprinkling of Hittite, Arabic, and Greek names.”2 Scholars have built on that initial work, and much has now been written about linguistic evidence for Book of Mormon authenticity. Summarizing this work, Kyler Rasmussen writes that “these efforts have yielded dozens of plausible Semitic and Egyptian etymological connections and dozens of meaningful wordplays that suggest that these names were far from random selections from Joseph’s brain.”3
We will discuss material that implicitly provides evidence that can contribute to the conversation of authenticity; however, this is mainly focused on understanding the narrative of the Book of Mormon more deeply. It will, therefore, focus on describing linguistic patterns that add to the work of other scholars to make connections between seemingly unrelated events and themes. These connections help further the work to more “fully comprehend the reality” ...