Reformed Egyptian

Reformed Egyptian is the name given in The Book of Mormon for the language in which it claims to have been originally written. 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).

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.

Some Mormons have suggested that Reformed Egyptian was Hebrew written in an adaptation of Egyptian hieroglyphics similar to demotic or hieratic script. There is nearly no non-Mormon scientific, archeological, or linguistic support for the existence of Reformed Egyptian.

A small sample of the original Book of Mormon writing provided by Smith is shown below:

External Links

• An effort by Blair Bryant to translate the characters Smith provided