Ether 2:3 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
and they did also carry with them [Deseret >jg deseret 1|deseret ABCDEGHKPRST|Deseret FIJLMNOQ] which by interpretation is [a 1ABCDEFGIJLMNOPQRST| HK] honey bee and thus they did carry with them swarms of bees

In the printer’s manuscript, the noun deseret is capitalized (as Deseret), but John Gilbert (the 1830 compositor) replaced the uppercase D with a lowercase d in 𝓟, thus setting it as deseret in the 1830 edition. The 1852 LDS edition restored the uppercase D, but the 1920 LDS edition returned to the lowercase spelling. The word deseret appears to be a common noun, thus justifying the lowercase spelling. There are also Book of Mormon names for species unknown to us, and these are also left uncapitalized in the printed text (thus cumoms, cureloms, neas, and sheum), so the lowercase d for deseret is consistent with that decision. On the other hand, names for unique objects are capitalized (at least in the current LDS text), which suggests that these names are proper nouns:

For the possibility that Gazelem is the name for the stone mentioned in Alma 37:23, see the discussion under that passage.

Here in Ether 2:3, the 1874 RLDS edition deleted the indefinite article a before honey bee; the 1908 RLDS edition restored it. The original style with the a is found in the King James Bible (even though the Greek does not have an indefinite article):

Obviously, the phrase “by interpretation” follows the King James style; thus the use of a before honey bee is appropriate here in Ether 2:3. Similarly, with the verb interpret there is one more case in the Book of Mormon text with the indefinite article a:

Summary: Accept in Ether 2:3 the lowercase spelling deseret since this is a common noun in the text; also maintain the use of the indefinite article a before honey bee, the earliest reading, which is consistent with the language style of the King James Bible (in John 1:42) as well as the Book of Mormon (in Alma 37:38).

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 6

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