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One can see how hieroglphics developed into the more stylized hieratic, and this process continued with the demotic: | One can see how hieroglphics developed into the more stylized hieratic, and this process continued with the demotic: | ||
− | [[Image:Hieratic Script.png|center| | + | [[Image:Hieratic Script.png|center|frame|Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Jean-François Champollion.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratic]]] |
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+ | What could be a better term for this than an Egyptian script that has been "reformed"? | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== | ||
− | People of Lehi's time and place did use both Hebrew and Egyptian, just as Nephi claimed (See [http://scriptures.lds.org/1_ne/1/2#2 1 Nephi 1:2]). | + | There has also been a clear evolution of Egyptian scrip in the Old World, and these modified scrips were in use in Lehi's day. People of Lehi's time and place did use both Hebrew and Egyptian, just as Nephi claimed (See [http://scriptures.lds.org/1_ne/1/2#2 1 Nephi 1:2]). |
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+ | Given that Moroni says the Nephites then modified the scrips further, "reformed Egyptian" is an elegant description of both the Old World phenomenon, and what Moroni says happened among the Nephites. | ||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== |
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Critics claim that
The claim that Israelites would not use Egyptian is clearly false. By the ninth to sixth centuries before Christ, Israelites used Egyptian numerals mingled with Hebrew text. The Papyrus Amherst 63 contains a text of Psalms 20:2-6 written in Aramaic (the language of Jesus) using Egyptian characters in the second century B.C.
Moroni makes it clear that "reformed Egyptian" is the name which the Nephites have given to a scrip based upon Egyptian characters, and modified over the course of a thousand years (See Mormon 9:32). So, it is no surprise that Egyptians or Jews have no scrip called "reformed Egyptian," as this was a Nephite term.
There are, however, several varient Egyptian scrips which are "reformed" or altered from their earlier form. Hugh Nibley and others have pointed out that the change from Egyptian hieroglphics, to hieratic, to demotic is a good description of Egyptian being "reformed." By 600 BC, hieratic was used primarily for religious texts, while demotic was used for daily use.[6]
One can see how hieroglphics developed into the more stylized hieratic, and this process continued with the demotic:
What could be a better term for this than an Egyptian script that has been "reformed"?
There has also been a clear evolution of Egyptian scrip in the Old World, and these modified scrips were in use in Lehi's day. People of Lehi's time and place did use both Hebrew and Egyptian, just as Nephi claimed (See 1 Nephi 1:2).
Given that Moroni says the Nephites then modified the scrips further, "reformed Egyptian" is an elegant description of both the Old World phenomenon, and what Moroni says happened among the Nephites.
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