View source for DESERET

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''[[:Category:Jaredite noun|Jaredite noun]]'''
|1.
|“Honey-bee” ([http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/2.3?lang=eng#2 Ether 2:3])
|}

'''Etymology'''

Until possible language affinities for [[JAREDITES|J<small>AREDITE</small>]] names can be determined, all suggestions for etymologies of [[JAREDITES|J<small>AREDITE</small>]] names must remain more speculative than substantive. With that caveat, the onomasticon does offer etymologies for some [[JAREDITES|J<small>AREDITE</small>]] names, especially if it is possible that some [[JAREDITES|J<small>AREDITE</small>]] names were translated into [[NEPHITE(S)|N<small>EPHITE</small>]], or were otherwise related to one or more Semitic languages.

The Book of Mormon supplies its own meaning for this word.

John Homans suggested originally that [[EGYPT|E<small>GYPTIAN</small>]] be appealed to, ''dšr.t'', “red (land), desert,” as well as a name for Upper [[EGYPT|E<small>GYPT</small>]], of which the symbol was the bee, and the king’s crown (the ''dšr.t''-crown) was a short crown with a bee proboscis coming out the top.<ref>[[Hugh W. Nibley|Nibley, Hugh W.]], “There were Jaredites: Egypt Revisited,” ''Improvement Era'', 59 (April 1956):244-245,252-260 = ''CWHN'' V:319-322; Nibley, ''LID'', 184-189 = ''CWHN'' V:189-194.</ref> Also, ''dsrt'' = “archaic and ritual designation of the bee was ‘'''D<small>ESERET'''’</small>, a ‘word of power’, too sacred to be entrusted to the vulgar.”<ref>[[Hugh W. Nibley|Nibley]], ''World of the Jaredites'', (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book: 1988), 192.</ref>

Kevin Barney explained the etymology as Proto-Semitic or Archaic Hebrew GN דברת ''dbrt'' (Joshua 19:12  > Classical Hebrew דבורה ''dĕbôrâ'' “bee; Deborah”), which may have been equated or confused with ancient Egyptian ''dšrt,''<ref>Barney, “On the Etymology of Deseret,” ''By Common Consent Papers'' 1/2 (Nov 2006): 3-6, cited in Book of Mormon Central, “Where Does the Word ‘Deseret’ Come From? (Ether 2:3),” ''KnoWhy'' #236 (Nov 22, 2016), nn. 7-9,  online at https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/ where-does-the-word-%E2%80%9Cdeseret%E2%80%9D-come-from ; even Hirsch Miller used Hebrew ''dĕbôrîm'' “honey-bees” as his 1922 translation of DESERET.</ref> with the above meaning discussed by Nibley, but which can also mean "desert."<ref>Ramy Samir Mina, “The Influence of the Ancient Egyptian Language on the European Languages,” master’s thesis (Cairo University, 2005), Table 1.</ref>

Cf. Janne [[Janne M. Sjodahl|Sjodahl]]: [[HEBREW|H<small>EBREW</small>]], ''asher'' = “happiness, blessedness;” and ''ashur'' = “one that is happy.”<ref>Sjodahl, ''Authenticity of the Book of Mormon'', p.11.</ref> 

See also [[Deseret Variant]]

'''Variants'''

[[Deseret Variant|Deseret]]

'''[[Deseret Alphabet]]:''' 𐐔𐐇𐐝𐐀𐐡𐐇𐐓 (dɛsiːrɛt)

'''Notes'''
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<references/>

'''Bibliography'''
----
*[[Daniel H. Ludlow]] ''A Companion to your Study of the Book of Mormon''. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1969.
[[Category:Names]][[Category:Jaredite noun]]
*[[Ramy Samir Mina]] “The Influence of the Ancient Egyptian Language on the European Languages,” master’s thesis. Cairo University, 2005, online at https://www.academia.edu/4177204/The_Influence_of_the_Ancient_Egyptian_Language_on_the_European_Languages?email_work_card=view-paper .

<div style="text-align: center;"> [[DAVID|<<]] Deseret [[DESOLATION|>>]] </div>

==[[Name Index]]==
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|[[O]]
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|<font color="lightgray">Q</font>
|[[R]]
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