Etymology of “Isle” in the Book of Mormon

Sometimes, it would seem, that those reading the scriptural record forget who wrote it, and how it was translated, and frequently, what certain words mean since they were first written between  . This seems especially true in the academic world where professors appear to approach the Book of Mormon as though it was a long lost codex of some ancient people and reject the idea of God’s involvement with its creation. In so doing, a lot of understanding is lost and other beliefs occur regarding the meaning of what was written and the ultimate interpretation of its writing.

As Jacob spoke to the Nephites during a two-day conference in the Temple and Nephi recorded on the sacred record: “we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance [Jerusalem]; but we have been led to a better land [Land of Promise], for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea” (2 Nephi 10:20, emphasis added). Jacob went on to say: “great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea; wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this [Land of Promise], and they are inhabited also by our brethren” (2 Nephi 10:21, emphasis added).

Unfortunately, because the models of the many theorists do not now, or anciently, ever been an island, they try to alter the meaning of the word “isles” to mean something else to fit their theories. They claim the word Biblically meant any seashore of a mainland some distance away. But since Joseph Smith translated and the Spirit accepted, the word “Isles” under the 1829 meaning (when Joseph translated Nephi’s writing), we need to use the 1829 meaning of the word, which leads us to the etymology of the word “isles” as it would have been known to Joseph Smith—and that leads us to the Noah Webster 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.

 

The word “isle” comes to us from the Middle English “ile,” which comes from the Old French (language d'oc or Occitan language)  “isle,” that comes from the Latin “insula.” Webster’s 1828 definition of “isle” is “A tract of land surrounded by water, or a detached portion of land embosomed in the ocean). At the same time, the word island in 1828 was not only unpopular, it was considered an “illegitimate” word in English. According to Webster in 1828, the word “island” is an absurd compound of isle and land, that is, land-in-water land, or ieland-land. There is no such legitimate word in English.

As an example, the authors of the Book of Mormon, from today’s point of view, consisted of those prophets and recorders found from First Nephi through Omni; however, for the sake of the geographical setting, we really deal with basically just the writing of Nephi, Jacob, Mormon and Moroni.

1.  Nephi: Hebrew speaking and writing, as well as Egyptian writing author; lived at Jerusalem until about 20-25 years old;

2. Jacob; Hebrew speaking and writing, as well as Egyptian writing author; never lived in Jerusalem, was born in the wilderness and brought up in the wilderness and lived his adult life in the Land of Promise;

3. Mormon: Hebrew speaking and writing, as well as Egyptian writing author; born in the Land of Promise at a time when the Hebrew language had been altered by the Nephites; and the Egyptian was called Reformed;

4. Moroni: Hebrew speaking and writing, as well as Egyptian writing author; born in the Land of Promise at a time when the Hebrew language had been altered by the Nephites; and the Egyptian was called Reformed.

5. The Book of Either, translated and abridged by Moroni, was originally written by authors who would not have known Hebrew as it was known to the ancients unless the Hebrew is just a continuation of the language of Noah.

Ether, who lived somewhere around 600 B.C., followed a line of speaking people from Mesopotamia who may not have spoken Hebrew or been familiar with it before leaving at the time of the confusion of languages; however, for those who believe they spoke the original Hebrew of Noah, let us keep in mind that there would have been approximately 1600 years between the time Jared and his brother and friends left Mesopotamia and Ether’s birth, or at least his writing of the Ether record. During this time, as Moroni said of the Nephites, their language had been altered: “And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech” (Mormon 9:32).  Thus, even if Ether wrote in the same language that the Nephites wrote, it has been altered, and not necessarily along the same lines that the Nephite Hebrew would have been altered.

President Joseph Fielding Smith taught that the Jaredites likely spoke the language of Adam (The Way to Perfection, 1970, p69), yet according to Robert L. Millet and Joseph F. McConkie: “in adding the book of Ether to the Book of Mormon, Moroni was probably following instructions from his father Mormon. In the book of Mosiah, as Mormon was giving an account of the discovery and translation of the twenty-four gold plates upon which this record was engraved, he had inserted this comment” (Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. IV, p. 259). Now if that statement was meaningful and not just a slip of writing, i.e., that Moroni “translated” the Book of Ether, then we have to assume that it was written in a language unknown to Moroni, who knew Hebrew, very likely well enough to have understood Ether’s writing of Hebrew if that was the language known to the Jaredites. Otherwise, if he merely abridged the writing (as Mormon did of the Nephite record), then we would understand that to be in a language unknown to Moroni.

This would then make sense that 1) the Jaredites spoke the Adamic language, but 2) the Adamic language was not Hebrew, for it was not known to Moroni, who knew Hebrew.

Now, returning to the language known to the four main writers or abridgers of the records, whose comments generate the most connections of descriptions regarding the Land of Promise, i.e., Nephi, for his comments leading up to and landing on the Land of Promise; Jacob for his discussion about the Land of Promise being an island; Mormon for his abridgement of the main Nephite record; and Moroni for his abridgement of the Book of Ether. In all of this, the Hebrew language would have been a third-level factor in understanding the meaning of words.

As an example, Nephi who spoke and wrote Hebrew, but also wrote the record in Egyptian (1 Nephi 1:2), obviously would have thought in Hebrew, it being his native language. He then would have translated that meaning into an Egyptian word or character, and inscribed it on the plates. While this is an assumption, it is probably correct since that is the way people who use a second language think and write. On the other hand, if he was extremely familiar with Egyptian, it is possible he would think in Egyptian and not Hebrew at all as he wrote the record, as missionaries do who learn a foreign language on their missions—typically, sometime after half their mission, they transfer their thinking from their native language (such as English) to that of their newly learned language (such as Spanish, Japanese or Slavic Russian).

Assuming Nephi thought in Hebrew, as all theorists claim, let us consider the words then that Jacob spoke in the temple and Nephi wrote down upon the plates.

“The Lord has made the sea our path and we are upon an isle of the sea” (2 Nephi 10:20).

The word “isle” or even “island” is not a word in the Hebrew language. The word used today that uses the modern inclusion of “isle” or “island” is “ אִי, (i), which is taken from an unused word, a masculine noun, that has a phonetic spelling of “ee” and a definition of “coastlands.” Originally, the word meant “habitable places” as opposed to water, thus in Biblical times it was used for a coastline, shore, or island. It’s main meaning, however, is singled out as “an island,” or “to cause to become an island, or like an island, to surround or encompass (with water) as an island.”  

Some modern-day scholars have changed the meaning in the new bibles, such as the Revised Versions with a “sea coast” marginal meaning. In Acts, “nesion” is interpreted a ”small island” and “nesos” as “island.” In addition, in the British and English versions of new Bibles, “Isle” is translated as “islae” or “island.” In that time, only the islands (island cities) of Tyre and Arvad were known in Old Testament times of any import and they were very small. There was also Kittim (Chittim), Cyprus, Elisha and perhaps Carthage were referenced as “isles of the nations.”

We need to keep in mind that the ancient Jews were not a maritime nation and their geographical knowledge was very limited. It was the Tyrians who had communication with what islands of the sea there were. It was not until the missionary voyages of Paul that we find much writing about islands in the Biblical period at all.

Thus, when Lehi left Jerusalem, the word “isle” or “island” would not have been a much-used word. However, in their voyage to the land of Promise and their movement up a coast of southern Chile that has today over 2300 islands, might well have changed their thinking.

The point is, when Jacob referred to island and Nephi wrote it, Joseph Smith then translated it as isle, telling us that the Land of Promise was an island surrounded by water, particularly at the time of this event in the temple during Jacob and Neph’s time. This obviously discounts all the theorist’s models of their Land of Promise.