Foreword

FOREWORD

Because of the tentative and necessarily incomplete nature of the data surrounding any discussion of the proper names and common non-English nouns in the Book of Mormon, this study must be viewed as only a beginning to a long and hopefully fruitful dialogue among serious scholars. The exchange is of necessity quite technical and complicated, which is another way of saying that those who are not encumbered by having any rigorous philological training might best avoid comment. This material is not presented as an apologetic work, neither is it polemical. Any use to the contrary must be viewed with extreme caution. Irenical approaches are appreciated.

For a discussion of why a study of the proper names of the Book of Mormon merits any consideration, please see the preface, “Relevancy and Methodology for a Study of the Proper Names of the Book of Mormon.”

A separate list of abbreviations, variants, and a bibliography have been supplied, along with a study of specific etymological considerations relating to the Book of Mormon onomasticon.

The entries are arranged in alphabetical order with each entry beginning a new page. The data for each entry is arranged according to the following schema:

The name or word appears at the top right of the page in capital, bolded letters: AARON

Attestations of the name or word are listed according to Book of Mormon basic groupings: Lehite, Jaredite and biblical. Thus, for example, Mulekite is not normally differentiated from Nephite.

The discussion of the name begins with a brief summary of the more likely etymological probabilities. This is followed by a synopsis of all proffered etymologies based on older sources. This material is listed in no strict order, though in general the more recent suggestions appear first.

If the Book of Mormon name is solely a translation instead of a transliteration, no attempt is normally made to speculate about possible Vorlagen on the Plates for two reasons: first, such speculation is not productive in understanding the etymology of the Book of Mormon onomasticon. Second, an absolute prerequisite for any attempt to reconstruct the Vorlage of any name is to determine what the language(s) of the Vorlage might be, and in no case can this determination be made with certainty.