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Reformed Egyptian
The Book of Mormon, a work of scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement, describes itself as having originally been written in reformed Egyptian characters on plates of metal or "ore" by prophets living in the Western Hemisphere from perhaps as early as the 4th century BC until as late as the 5th century AD. Joseph Smith, the movement's founder, published the Book of Mormon in 1830 as a translation of these golden plates. Scholarly reference works on languages do not, however, acknowledge the existence of either a "reformed Egyptian" language or "reformed Egyptian" script as it has been described in Mormon belief. No archaeological, linguistic, or other evidence of the use of Egyptian writing in ancient America has been discovered.〔Standard language references such as Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, eds., ''The World's Writing Systems'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) (990 pages); David Crystal, ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language'' (Cambridge University Press, 1997); and Roger D. Woodard, ed., ''The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004) (1162 pages) contain no reference to "reformed Egyptian." "Reformed Egyptian" is also ignored in Andrew Robinson, ''Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts'' (New York: McGraw Hill, 2002), although it is mentioned in Stephen Williams, ''Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory'' (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991). On their website, ''Bad Archaeology'', two British archaeologists, Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and Dames Doeser, say "The only writing systems to have been recognized in the Americas are those used by the Maya and the Aztecs, neither of which resembles Egyptian hieroglyphs, although Joseph Smith produced a scrap of papyrus containing hieroglyphs he claimed to be a Reformed Egyptian text written by the Patriarch Abraham." (Bad Archaeology )〕
==Reformed Egyptian and the Book of Mormon==
The Book of Mormon uses the term "reformed Egyptian" in only one verse, , which says that "the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, () handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech" and that "none other people knoweth our language."〔The prophet-historian Moroni ().〕 The book also says that its first author, Nephi, was taught both the "learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians." (), that the book was written in "reformed Egyptian" because that language took less space and was easier to engrave on gold plates than Hebrew, and that there was also an evolution of the Hebrew after the people left Jerusalem.〔According to the Book of Mormon prophet Moroni (more than a thousand years after Nephi began the record): "And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also..."〕
LDS scholars note that other languages evolved from Egyptian through the centuries and have hypothesized that the term "reformed Egyptian" refers to a form of Egyptian writing similar to other modified Egyptian scripts such as hieratic, a priestly shorthand for hieroglyphics thousands of years old by the first millennium B.C., or early Demotic, a derivative of hieratic, perhaps used in northern Egypt fifty years before the time that the Book of Mormon prophet-patriarch Lehi is said to have left Jerusalem for the Americas.〔See William J. Hamblin, (Reformed Egyptian ). Critic Richard Packham argues that Hebrew is more compact than hieratic Egyptian.(Packham website ) Other critics argue that Smith chose "reformed Egyptian" because it would be a safer creation than "Egyptian," and that claiming New World Hebrew had also been modified over time would further ensure the creation against linguistic challenge. In "Three Strikes, You're Out! The Quick and Dirty Case Against Mormonism," Kyle J. Gerkin argues that Smith identified "reformed Egyptian" as the source language because many early-nineteenth-century scholars knew Hebrew and no one in 1830 could read Egyptian hieroglyphics: "Joseph's choice of 'reformed Egyptian' was a calculated move. At the time, Egyptian was generally believed to be indecipherable, as the grammar worked out from the Rosetta Stone would not be published until 1837." (The Secular Web ) Even so, as understanding of the Egyptian language grew and new texts came to light, the hieratic and its derivative, the demotic, proved there was a short-hand for hieroglyphics that might be easier to engrave than Hebrew, lending credence to the Book of Mormon's explanation for the use of "reformed Egyptian."〕
Although accounts of the process differ, Smith is said to have translated the reformed Egyptian characters engraved on gold plates into English through various means, including the use of a seer stone or the Urim and Thummim, or both.〔Michael Morse, Smith's brother-in-law, said that he watched Smith on several occasions and said his "mode of procedure consisted in Joseph's placing the Seer Stone in the crown of a hat, then putting his face into the hat, so as to entirely cover his face." Michael Morse interview with William W. Blair, May 8, 1879, in ''EMD'', 4: 343. Morse was clearly awed by Smith's ability to dictate as he did and called it "a strange piece of work." David Whitmer said that at one point "the plates were not before Joseph while he translated, but seem to have been removed by the custodian angel." David Whitmer Interview with the ''Chicago Times'', August 1875, in ''EMD'', 5: 21. Whitmer also stated that "after affixing the magical spectacles to his eyes, Smith would take the plates and translate the characters one at a time. The graven characters would appear in succession to the seer, and directly under the character, when viewed through the glasses, would be the translation in English." ''Chicago Tribune'', 15 December 1885 in ''EMD'', 5: 124. Isaac Hale said that while Joseph was translating, the plates were "hid in the woods." Hale said that Martin Harris demanded that Smith give him a "greater witness," and Smith told Harris to "go into the woods where the Book of Plates was, and that after he came back, Harris should follow his track in the snow, and find the Book, and examine it for himself. Harris informed me afterwards, that he followed Smith's direction, and could not find the Plates, and was still dissatisfied." "Mormonism, ''Susquehanna Register and Northern Pennsylvanian'' 9 (May 1, 1834): 1 in ''EMD'' 4: 286–87. "No primary witness reported that Joseph used (plates ) in any way." Grant H. Palmer, ''An Insider's View of Mormon Origins'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 2–5.〕 Smith said that, when he had finished the translation, he returned the plates to the angel Moroni, and therefore they are unavailable for study.〔"Joseph Smith Interview with Peter Bauder, October 1830" in ''EMD'', 1: 17; "Joseph Smith Interview with Leman Copley, 1831" in ''EMD'', 1: 24–25. Yet even after Smith had returned the plates to the angel, other early LDS Church members testified that an angel had also showed them the plates. Grant Palmer, ''An Insider's View of Mormon Origins'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 201. In 1859, Brigham Young referred to one of these "post-return" testimonies: "Some of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon, who handled the plates and conversed with the angels of God, were afterwards left to doubt… One of the Quorum of the Twelve, a young man full of faith and good works, prayed, and the vision of his mind was opened, and the angel of God came and laid the plates before him, and he saw and handled them, and saw the angel." ''Journal of Discourses'', June 5, 1859, 7: 164.〕
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