![FairMormon Logo](https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021_fair_logo_primary.png)
FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
m (→What is "Reformed Egyptian"?) |
m (→What is "Reformed Egyptian"?: Link to larger image) |
||
Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
[[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]]] | ||
− | [[Image:180px-Prisse_papyrus.jpg|frame|left|'''Hieratic''': A section of the Prisse papyrus from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, containing the ''Precepts of Kakemna'' and the ''Precepts of Ptahhotep'' in hieratic. ''Source'': Plate IV. ''The S.S. Teacher's Edition: The Holy Bible'', (New York: Henry Frowde, Publisher to the University of Oxford, 1896). | + | [[Image:180px-Prisse_papyrus.jpg|frame|left|'''Hieratic''': A section of the Prisse papyrus from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, containing the ''Precepts of Kakemna'' and the ''Precepts of Ptahhotep'' in hieratic. [http://www.fairwiki.org/wiki/index.php/Image:800px-Prisse_papyrus.jpg Enlarge] ''Source'': Plate IV. ''The S.S. Teacher's Edition: The Holy Bible'', (New York: Henry Frowde, Publisher to the University of Oxford, 1896).[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieratic]]] |
[[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]]] |
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 script 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 script 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 script 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 scripts further, "reformed Egyptian" is an elegant description of both the Old World phenomenon, and what Moroni says happened among the Nephites.
FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
We are a volunteer organization. We invite you to give back.
Donate Now