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===What is "Reformed Egyptian"?=== | ===What is "Reformed Egyptian"?=== | ||
+ | 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 [http://scriptures.lds.org/morm/9/32#32 Mormon 9:32]). So, it is no surprise that Egyptians or Jews have no scrip called "reformed Egyptian," as this was a Nephite term. | ||
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+ | 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.[http://www.ancientscripts.com/egyptian.html] | ||
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[[Image:180px-Egyptian_hieroglyphs_Black_Schist_sarcophagus_Ankhnesneferibre.jpg|frame|left|'''Hieroglyphics''': Hieroglyphs from the Black Schist sarcophagus of Ankhnesneferibre. Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, about 530 BC, Thebes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_language]]] | [[Image:180px-Egyptian_hieroglyphs_Black_Schist_sarcophagus_Ankhnesneferibre.jpg|frame|left|'''Hieroglyphics''': Hieroglyphs from the Black Schist sarcophagus of Ankhnesneferibre. Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, about 530 BC, Thebes.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_language]]] | ||
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[[Image:180px-DemoticScriptsRosettaStoneReplica.jpg|frame|left|'''Demotic''': Inscription from the Rosetta Stone in demotic.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_language]]] | [[Image:180px-DemoticScriptsRosettaStoneReplica.jpg|frame|left|'''Demotic''': Inscription from the Rosetta Stone in demotic.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_language]]] | ||
+ | <br style="clear:both;"> <!--This line keeps text from wrapping around the photos --> | ||
− | + | One can see how hieroglphics developed into the more stylized hieratic, and this process continued with the demotic: | |
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+ | [[Image:Hieratic Script.png|center|thumb|300px|Development of hieratic script from hieroglyphs; after Jean-François Champollion.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratic]]] | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== |
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
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:
People of Lehi's time and place did use both Hebrew and Egyptian, just as Nephi claimed (See 1 Nephi 1:2).
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