NEPHI

NEPHI

Lehite PN & GN	1. Son of Lehi No.1, ca. 600 BC (1 Nephi 1:1; Ether 8:21)
			2. Son of Helaman No.3; chief judge, prophet, ca. 39–30 BC; translated 				    ca. 6 BC (Helaman 3:21; Ether 12:14)
			3. Apostle, son of No. 2, ca. 30 AD (3 Nephi 1:2; 3 Nephi 23:12)
			4. Son of No. 3, ca. 111 AD (4 Nephi 19)
			5. Land, named from No. 1, 6th c. BC (2 Nephi 5:8; Helaman 5:20)
			6. City, from 6th c. BC (Mosiah 9:15; Alma 47:31)

Two directions exist for seeking the etymology of this important Book of Mormon name, nph/ḥ or nv̄ p or n aleph p. Historical and current LDS pronunciation of the name 
would favor the latter, reading the ph as one phoneme [f], rather than as two, [p] and [h/ḥ]. However, I am unaware of any root in Semitic corresponding with nv̄/ʿp. Both 
npḥ, “to breathe, blow” (JAT, JH), and nph, “to discard, banish, reject” (JH) exist in West Semitic, though the latter is not attested in North-west Semitic (JH). Nap_pnu means 
“anblasen, entzünden; aufgehen” and appears in the form niphu “Aufleuchten, Entbrennen” and refers metaphorically to sun up and star up. It occurs in the feminine names 
i-na-ni-ip-pni-ša-al-si-iš and i-na-nippni(SAR)-ša-al-si-iš (Stamm, ANG, 200). The form may be related to the biblical Zimri/Omri and Book of Mormon Lehi/Limhi, etc. 
(PN).

An equally or even more promising derivation would come from Egyptian nfw (later nfy), “captain, skipper, chief of sailors” (Coptic ne(e)f, neeb), from meaning “breathe, blow 
at” (cognate with West Semitic npḥ) (RFS, JH). Nibley wrote that “Nfy was the name of an Egyptian captain,” implying a PN rather than a word meaning “captain” (LID, 29; see 
also ABM, 234). See also Egyptian nfʿ.i, “I am driven away” (passive sdm.f) (EHA). If correct, the name could be metonymic, in view of Nephi’s forced departure from his 
homeland (JAT).

Nibley notes the PN nfy on at least 10 Nabatean inscriptions. In one case, nfy is the father of one lmy, where the y is defective and may, according to Jaussen, have been n, 
hence Laman (if it is really y, cf. Book of Mormon Lamah—JAT), while in another hnfy appears with the name mrmlw, for which cf. Mormon (ABM, 239 and esp. fn. 28 [in the 
reprint by FARMS; fn. 27 in the 1964 Deseret edition] to Chap. 22).

The Aramaic GN npʾ occurs in the Elephantine documents (7:4) (EHA).

Implausible is the suggestion to derive Nephi from the Hebrew word for prophet, nābīʾ. Such a derivation (Reynolds, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, I, p. 3 and IV, p. 
275) is based on the erroneous reading “nevi” from “nebhi,” which is the masoretic pronunciation of the first two syllables of the plural “prophets.” But we do not know if 
masoretic pronunciation held in Lehi’s day; and even if the pronunciation were certain for Lehi’s day, part of the plural form cannot be used to explain a word that looks 
singular. The fact that the niphal form may mean “speak under divine influence” is irrelevant. In other words, the Hebrew “bet” in nābīʾ, despite spirantization, cannot be 
turned into the [f] of Nephi.

Some would like to see the Nephi in 2 Macc. 1:36 of the KJV (Greek neai, an alternate name for naphtha, the Aramaic word for petroleum, which is usually rendered by Greek 
near) as the most likely origin of Book of Mormon Nephi (JH). In view of the fact that the Greek does not read Nephi, neither would the Aramaic, Joseph Smith would have to 
have taken the name from his KJV Bible which, it is now known, contained the Apocrypha (JAT). But it seems unlikely that Joseph Smith would have rendered a PN from the 
Plates with an erroneous KJV reading of a Greek noun of an Aramaic/Hebrew word for petroleum. Confer also nea, near in 1 Esdr. 5:2. (RFS; *CANNOT FIND IN 1 ESDR. 5:2!!!!) 
(RFS).

Alex Morgan has suggested in a private communication (postmarked 24 May 2001) that Nehemiah 7:52: Nephishesim and Ezra 2:50 Nephusim may have something to do with 
Nephi. Both refer to “Nachkommen v. Kriegsgefangen aus d. ismaelitishcen Stamm npyš,” (KB, pwsym) a son of Ishmael. 

Cf. Book of Mormon LehiNephi, Nephihah, Zenephi (and perhaps Zeniff), and NEPHITE(S)