El Libro de Mormón/Nombres

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It is claimed that some Book of Mormon names are used improperly or in an inappropriate context. Examples include:

• using "Alma" as a man's name, rather than a woman's name
• using names of Greek origin, such as "Timothy"

Many Book of Mormon names are not found in the Bible, and were unknown to Joseph Smith. Yet, these names have meaning in ancient languages and/or have been found as actual names from ancient history. These "hits" provide additional evidence that the Book of Mormon is indeed an ancient record.

Key

Hugh Nibley did considerable work on Book of Mormon names. References to his work will be marked as follows to avoid multiple, repetitive footnotes:

• Plantilla:NibleyLehiDesertLabel = Hugh W. Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites, edited by John W. Welch with Darrell L. Matthew and Stephen R. Callister, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988), 23-32. ISBN 0875791328. [Nibley marks Old World names as (OW) and Book of Mormon names as (BM).]

Others:

• Plantilla:Gee Roper Tvedtnes BoM Names Label = John A. Tvedtnes, John Gee, Matthew Roper, "Book of Mormon Names Attested in Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9/1 (2000): 40–51. off-site (Inglés) wiki

General treatments on Book of Mormon names

• John A. Tvedtnes, "What's in a Name? A Look at the Book of Mormon Onomasticon (Review of I Know Thee by Name: Hebrew Roots of Lehi-ite Non-Biblical Names in the Book of Mormon)," FARMS Review of Books 8/2 (1996): 34–42. off-site (Inglés)
• Gordon C. Thomasson, "What's in a Name? Book of Mormon Language, Names, and [Metonymic] Naming," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 3/1 (1994): 1–27. off-site (Inglés) wiki
• Stephen D. Ricks and John A. Tvedtnes, "The Hebrew Origin of Some Book of Mormon Place Names," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6/2 (1997): 255–259. off-site (Inglés) wiki
• Paul Y. Hoskisson, "What's in a Name?," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 7/1 (1998): 78–78?. off-site (Inglés) wiki

Lehi and Sariah

It is also an interesting coincidence that similar evidence for Lehi's wife's name has turned up in a papyrus document, written in Persian period Aramaic, in the era following the sixth century BC. The female Jewish/Hebrew name Sariah appears in an Aramaic papyrus from the fifth century BC (albeit partially restored by the original publisher). The document is known as C-22 (or Cowley-22), and was found at Elephantine in upper Egypt around the year 1900....The female name Sariah does not appear in the Bible, just as the male name Lehi does not. Yet both appear in the Book of Mormon. That we can now identify both the Jewish/Hebrew names Sariah in the Elephantine Papyri and Lehi in the Samaria Papyri and on Ostracon 2071 represents two significant steps forward in corroborating the authenticity [of the Book of Mormon]. - Ibid.

• "The name is reflected in the second element of the name 'dn-Lrm, "Lord of LRM," known from a seal of ca. 720 BC found during excavations at Hama (Hamath) in Syria. The name is also known from graffiti on three bricks from the same level at Hama." - Plantilla:Gee Roper Tvedtnes BoM Names Label

• John Sawyer, "What Was a Mosiaʿ?" Vetus Testamentum 15 (1965): 475–486 [FARMS Reprint in 1989]; cited and applied by John W. Welch, "What Was A 'Mosiah'?," in Reexploring the Book of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1992), 105–107. ISBN 0875796001 off-site (Inglés) FAIR link

• Stephen D. Ricks and John A. Tvedtnes, "The Hebrew Origin of Some Book of Mormon Place Names," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 6/2 (1997): 255–259. off-site (Inglés) wiki

Plantilla:SummaryItem For remarks on the "-ihah" ending likely not reflecting the divine name of God (Yahweh or Jehovah), see:

• Paul Y. Hoskisson, "It Is OK Not to Have Every Answer: The Book of Mormon Onomastic Ending -(i)hah," Journal of the Book of Mormon and Restoration Scripture 18/1 (2009): 48–55. off-site (Inglés) wiki

Less well supported examples

Linguistics is a complex subject, and it is all too common for zealous but mistaken defenders of the Church to use parallels in names or language which cannot be sustained. Since most Church members have no training in ancient American languages, evaluating such claims can be difficult.

Mesoamerican scholars consulted by FAIR have recommended that the following sources, while superficially persuasive, should be used with caution (if at all):

• Bruce W. Warren, "Surviving Jaredite Names in Mesoamerica," Meridian Magazine (26 May 2005) off-site (Inglés); citing Plantilla:NewEvidencesOfChrist
• Bruce W. Warren, "'Kish'—A personal Name" Meridian Magazine (17 February 2005) off-site (Inglés); citing Plantilla:NewEvidencesOfChrist

These comments are not intended to disparage the individuals involved, but to encourage rigor and restraint in claims made. As Elder Dallin H. Oaks cautioned, "When attacked by error, truth is better served by silence than by a bad argument."^[1]

Plantilla:Endnotes label

1. [back]  Matthew Roper, Right on Target: Boomerang Hits and the Book of Mormon 2001 FAIR Conference. FAIR link
2. [back]  Hugh Nibley, Ancient Documents and the Pearl of Great Price, edited by Robert Smith and Robert Smythe (n.p., n.d.), 11.
3. [back]  Hugh W. Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites, edited by John W. Welch with Darrell L. Matthew and Stephen R. Callister, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988), 31. ISBN 0875791328.
4. [back]  Hugh W. Nibley, "Lecture 27: Omni; Words of Mormon; Mosiah 1: The End of the Small Plates and The Coronation of Mosiah," in Teachings of the Book of Mormon: Transcripts of lectures presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Class at Brigham Young University 1988-1990, Vol. 1, (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1993), 430. ISBN 1591565715.
5. [back]  Plantilla:CommentaryBoM1
6. [back]  Brian D. Stubbs, "Book of Mormon Language," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1:181. off-site (Inglés) off-site (Inglés)
7. [back]  Brian D. Stubbs, "Book of Mormon Language," in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 1:181. off-site (Inglés) off-site (Inglés)
8. [back]  Dallin H. Oaks, "Alternative Voices," Ensign (May 1989), 27. off-site (Inglés)