AMALEKITES
| Lehite gentilic | 1. | Sect of apostates (many after the order of NEHOR), allies of the LAMANITES who built the city of JERUSALEM, ca. 90 BC (Alma 21:2, 3, 4 (x2), 5, 16; 22:7; 23:14; 24:1 (x2), 28, 29; 27:2, 12; 43:6 (x2), 13, 20, 44) |
Etymology
For the etymology of AMALEKITES that appear in Alma 21-27 and 43, see AMLICITE(S). The onomasticon accepts the scholarly consensus that the current Book of Mormon spelling of this group of people, Amalekites, is a possible scribal error for AMLICITE(S)[1] that appears already in the printer’s manuscript and all subsequent LDS printed editions. Note that in the printer’s manuscript, Alma 2:11-12, the first time the AMLICITE(S) appear in the text, it is written Amlikites, “but afterwards, for 25 more occurrences (from Alma 2:13 through Alma 3:20), we have a consistent Amlicites” in the printer’s manuscript."[2] Unfortunately, the original manuscript is not extant for any of these passages.
If AMALEKITES is not an error for AMLICITE(S), they it may be related to the biblical ethnic designation, Amalekites, one of the peoples, mentioned already in Genesis 14:7, who inhabited greater Canaan and who were later traditional enemies of the ISRAELITES.
See Book of Mormon AMALEKI and biblical AMALEKITES
See also Amalekite(s) Amlicite(s) Variant
Variants
Amlikites, Amelekites, Amaleckites, Amalickites, Amelicites, Am( ), Amelic( ), Amelickites
Deseret Alphabet: 𐐈𐐣𐐈𐐢𐐇𐐗𐐌𐐓𐐝 (æmælɛkaɪts)
Notes
- ↑ For a thorough discussion, see most recently Royal Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon.( Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Brigham Young University, 2004) vol. 3:1605-9. The suggestion was first made by Lyle Fletcher in an unpublished article in 1990, as cited in Skousen. See also John A. Tvedtnes, The Most Correct Book: Insights from a Book of Mormon Scholar (Salt Lake City, UT: Cornerstone, 1999), 324-5. Confer J. Christopher Conkling, Alma’s Enemies: The Case of the Lamanites, Amlicites, and the Mysterious Amalekites, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, 14/1 (2005): 108-117, with notes on pages 130-2.
- ↑ Royal Skousen, Anaylsis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon 3:1605.
