1 Ne 1:2 a record in the
language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the
language of the Egyptians.
This passage has engendered quite a bit
of controversy among Book of Mormon scholars who are trying to determine the
language Nephi used to record his history.
The traditional teaching is that the Book of Mormon was written in
¡°reformed Egyptian,¡± a script which used symbols capable of conveying entire
concepts in much less space than Hebrew.
The term, ¡°reformed Egyptian,¡± comes from Moroni¡¯s description in Mormon
9:32. There is speculation, however,
that the language of Moroni¡¯s day was considerably different than that of
Nephi¡¯s day. Moroni admits in that verse
that it had been handed down and altered by us,
according to our manner of speech.
Any linguist knows that languages can transform quickly, especially over
hundreds or thousands of years. Nephi
doesn¡¯t name the language he used; he says it was the
language of my father. Lehi was a
Jew of the tribe of Manasseh. Hebrew
would have been his primary language. However,
scholars have noted Lehi¡¯s wealth and the obvious influence of Egyptian culture
on Book of Mormon writings and practices.
These suggest that Lehi was a prosperous merchant who would have had
much trade with Egyptian merchants. He
undoubtedly knew their business language.
Nephi suggests that this language was part of the learning of my father and the
learning of the Jews. This would
have included learning how to speak and write the Egyptian language of Lehi¡¯s
day. No scholar is as qualified to teach
on this subject as is Hugh Nibley, who said:
¡°¡¯We
now realize that the ancient Jews could write quickly and boldly (in Hebrew),
in an artistic flowing hand, with the loving penmanship of those who enjoy
writing.¡¯ And the Nephites got rid of this to learn in its place the most
awkward, difficult, and impractical system of writing ever devised by man! Why
all the trouble? Simply to save space. What space? Space on valuable plates.
When did the custom begin? With Lehi. Where and when did he learn ¡®the language of the Egyptians¡¯? In Palestine, of
course, before he ever thought of himself as a record-keeper. Did the wealthy
Lehi learn Egyptian characters so that he could sit in his house in the land of
Jerusalem and by writing Hebrew with demotic (a form of Egyptian writing which
differed from classical Egyptian hieroglyphics; it was used for recording
deeds, books, etc.) symbols save a few cents a month on writing materials? And
did he command his sons to learn Egyptian so they could save space when they kept
records? Of course not: when they learned the language, neither Lehi nor his
sons had any idea that some day it would be useful to keepers of records on
metal plates. They had no other reason for learning Egyptian characters than to
read and write Egyptian. It was only later when historians became cramped for
space that they saw the advantage of continuing to write in Egyptian. And the
Egyptian characters can only have been preserved for their use because the
language was also preserved¡¦¡±
¡±The
fact remains that the abridging and editing of the Book of Mormon was in a
language known to no other people on earth but the Nephites.¡± (Hugh Nibley, Lehi
in the Desert and The World of the Jaredites, pp. 16-17)
In conclusion,
what was the language used by the writers of the Book of Mormon? The short answer, ¡°reformed Egyptian,¡± is
probably more helpful and accurate than the long answer discussed above.