NEAS

From Book of Mormon Onomasticon
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NEAS

Lehite noun		A cultivated plant (Mosiah 9: 9)

No etymology is suggested. A semitic root such as nās/ṣ/š/ś/z, na ’s/ṣ/š/ś/z or na ‘s/ṣ/š/ś/z would be the likely source. On the other hand, this noun may be borrowed 
into Lehite from a native indigenous vocabel. The fact that Joseph Smith did not translate the word means that he did not have or was not aware of a suitable English 
translation. This would seem to exclude potato, tomato, pepper, etc., indigenous American plants, and, depending on New England agricultural practices, the Old World 
grain emmer. 

All the proffered suggestions are highly questionable: Late Babylonian *nušû(m), nešu, a plant of some sort; Late Babylonian *kaš nāšu, a kind of beer (i.e., fermented from 
some cereal product, like malt). Akkadian *na’ṣu, nāṣu, “chew; in the mouth,” used with “root” and “cedar-wood,” so that “NEAS” might be a tuber of some sort. These 
etymological possibilities suggest that the word is a Jaredite borrowing (RFS). Equally questionable is EGYPTIAN n, “belonging to” and is, “old, ancient,” i.e., “that which is 
ancient” (JAT). 

Cf. Book of Mormon NEUM