Here we have an instance in the original text where the verb retain means ‘take back’, not ‘keep’ (the most common meaning in English). The editors for the 1920 LDS edition replaced retain with recall. Although this substituted verb has a second meaning (namely, ‘recollect or remember’), usage elsewhere in the Book of Mormon supports using the verb recall for ‘take back’ rather than ‘recollect’; in all cases, the reference is to one’s words:
There are two other instances of the verb retain in the larger passage, Alma 44:8–12. For the first instance of retain (in verse 8), the text starts out by saying that Zerahemnah “came forth and delivered up his sword and his scimitar and his bow into the hands of Moroni” (Alma 44:8). In the following speech to Moroni, however, Zerahemnah speaks as if he is still in the process of handing over his weapons to Moroni, which means that here retain can be interpreted as meaning ‘keep’, although ‘take back’ is also possible:
Nonetheless, the weapons were clearly handed over since the text says so, not only at the beginning of verse 8 (“he came forth and delivered up his sword and his scimitar and his bow into the hands of Moroni”) but also after Zerahemnah’s speech, where we have Moroni’s response:
And after a brief speech by Moroni, Zerahemnah takes back his sword and immediately attacks Moroni:
Thus in verses 11 and 12 we have two instances where retain definitely means ‘take back’; and the earlier instance in verse 8 may also mean ‘take back’, although within Zerahemnah’s speech the meaning ‘keep’ seems to work better. The critical text will, of course, maintain all three instances of retain since they are all intended here and do not appear to be errors for any other verb.
The meaning ‘take back’ for retain is not listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, although etymologically its Latin source, re +tene¯re (that is, retine¯re), could be interpreted as meaning ‘take again’ or ‘take back’ (see the discussion under the prefix re- in the OED). Yet even in Latin itself, the verb retine¯re never appears to have had the meaning ‘take back’, but rather ‘hold or keep back’. See the definitions for retine¯re in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 [1879]). Nonetheless, the verb retain sometimes has the meaning ‘take back’ in the Book of Mormon text, not only here in Alma 44 but also seven times from Alma 58 through Helaman 4, where it has been emended to regain in the LDS text. For discussion, see under Alma 58:3; other cases where retain seems to mean ‘take back’ are discussed under that passage. Also see the discussion under Alma 54:10 for an instance of retain that was momentarily replaced by retake in 𝓟. The critical text will, of course, maintain all the original instances of the verb retain, despite the occasional deviance from the expected meanings in English. For one case of retain that is apparently an error for repair, see under Alma 39:13. Also see the discussion under Alma 37:27 for one instance of retain that has been replaced by keep.
Summary: Restore the original use of retain in Alma 44:11, despite its meaning ‘take back’; also maintain the two other uses of retain in this passage (in verses 8 and 12); the original text has quite a few instances where retain has the meaning ‘take back’.