Reformed Egyptian
In Mormonism, 'reformed Egyptian' is believed to be a unique writing system used by some pre-Columbian Americans to write on gold plates in what became the Book of Mormon (a sacred text of Mormonism). These people were purportedly a line of prophets originating in 600 B.C. Jerusalem.
There is little material available for those who would study the Book of Mormon style of Egyptian called reformed Egyptian. There have been only two purported examples of the writing. With very little to study, no researchers outside Mormonism and few within Mormonism have been moved to undertake any study of the alleged system.
Inferring from statements in the Book of Mormon, Mormons believe some form of Egyptian was uniquely altered for special use as an ideographical writing system. Egyptian was the lingua franca of the Middle East circa 600 B.C., from where the Book of Mormon claims its authors descended, and demotic was the dominant script. Thus, Mormons generally believe demotic (or hieratic) Egyptian characters were altered and pressed into service as a compact means of scribing the Book of Mormon on golden plates. The nearest known linguistic relative to the resultant writing is hypothesized to be demotic.
History and classification of reformed Egyptian
The Book of Mormon says "the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, [were] handed down and altered by us" and that "none other people knoweth our language" (Mormon 9:32, 34 LDS). The Book of Mormon also describes this language as consisting of the "learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians" (1 Nephi 1:2 LDS). While the term "reformed Egyptian" apparently does not refer to any other language, some Mormons have hypothesized that "reformed Egyptian" was Hebrew written in an adaptation of Egyptian hieroglyphics similar to demotic or hieratic script.
According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism, and his associates, he translated reformed Egyptian characters engraved on Golden Plates into English through various means including the use of an ancient device called the Urim and Thummim which, like the plates, were said to have been eventually returned to the angel named Moroni who originally gave them to Smith.
Examples of reformed Egyptian
Only two possible examples of reformed Egyptian characters currently persist. Only the first is the subject of serious study.
The Anthon transcript or Caractors document
The more credible sample, called either the Anthon transcript or the Caractors document, was part of David Whitmer's estate. The sample is alleged to have been copied by Smith, but its history is still open to question and authenticity often disputed.
The Hofmann sample
In the 1980s, convicted forger Mark Hofmann sold some so-called McLellin papers to various Mormon investors and the LDS Church (see Mark Hofmann and Salamander Letter). The papers included an alleged sample of reformed Egyptian characters. According to one researcher, the sample appears to have been copied from the Caractors Transcript somewhat carelessly (line for line in the first four lines) to more closely agree with a description given by Charles Anthon. Blair Bryant explains:
- "Find a copy of that forgery and you can easily compare and see how Hofmann did it. Just turn a copy of the Caractors Transcript 90 degrees clockwise. Now compare the right-hand most column (line A) with Hofmann's left-hand most column. Reorient the individual characters as in the original (rotate each individual character 90 degrees counterclockwise) and you can identify every character.... Then Hofmann added a couple of additional squiggles to the bottom.
- "Then, go to the line B and compare it from top to bottom with Hofmann's second column and so on. He copied it character-by-character with a few changes in flourishes or combinations of elements. He did that for the first four lines. In his fifth column he took elements in sequence from line E at the top and segments of other lines for the circular figure at the bottom.
- "In a letter written several years after the Martin Harris meeting (1834, if memory serves), Professor Anthon described the document characters as being like mixtures of ancient alphabets jumbled and that there was a circular figure similar to an Aztec calendar at the bottom. It seems apparent that Hofmann rearranged the pattern to agree with Professor Anthon's description."
Reformed Egyptian studies
Most study of reformed Egyptian in Mormonism is via the proxy of the purported English translation, the Book of Mormon. Some Mormons, however, have made attempts to study and decipher the Anthon transcript.
Bryant Caractors Translation
Community of Christ adherent Blair Bryant claims to have found correlation between the Caractors (Anthon) document and the Book of Mormon title page that leads to a plausible translation of the 7 lines (see ). According to Bryant's work, the Caractors document consists of 216 characters written right to left, top to bottom, in 7 lines. The Bryant work postulates:
- that the top four lines (95 characters) are in the hand of Mormon, and the bottom three lines (121 characters) are in the cramped hand of Moroni
- that the Caractors Transcript is two statements of intent defining the purpose of the Book of Mormon and alluded to in Mormon 8:5 (LDS)
- that within the "Caractors Transcript" there are 20 modified Nephite characters which are based in meaning and appearance on known Egyptian characters
- that the message of the Caractors Document is very similar to the Book of Mormon Title Page, and that many words and phrases are shared between them
Bryant has offered a tentative rendered English prose translation of the document. His translation has the document bearing testimony that the Book of Mormon is a marvelous gift of God to His covenant people .
