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TitleEgyptology and the Book of Mormon
Publication TypeMagazine Article
Year of Publication1923
AuthorsWebb, Robert C.
MagazineImprovement Era
Volume26
Issue Number4
Pagination311–327
Date PublishedFebruary 1923
KeywordsCharacters; Egyptology; Hieroglyphics; Language; Language - Egyptian; Language - Hebrew; Language - Reformed Egyptian; Language - Semitic; Linguistic Analysis; Linguistics; Writing System
Abstract

This series proposes that the characters on the gold plates were derived from Hieratic or Demotic Egyptian (Mormon 9:32-33). Analysis of other major written languages available ca. 600 B. C.—i.e. Phoenician-Hebrew, Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform—reveals that they do not meet the writing requirements outlined in the Book of Mormon itself. The nature of the gold plates as an alloy is also discussed. The first part covers Phoenician-Hebrew and Egyptian hieroglyphs.