[21] No claim has been advanced, we believe, which advocates an actual Egyptian colonization of the New World, but strong arguments have been used to show that the architecture and sculpture of Central America and Mexico have been influenced from Egypt, if not attributable directly to Egyptian artisans.—J. T. Short.
The hieroglyphics, symbols and emblems which have been discovered in the temples bear so strong a resemblance to those of the Egyptians as to encourage the supposition that a colony of that nation may have founded the city of Palenque or Culhuacan.—Jaurros.
Giordan found the most striking analogies between the Central American and Mexican remains and those of the Egyptians. The idols and monuments he considers of the same form in both countries, while the hieroglyphics of Palenque do not differ from those of ancient Thebes.
CHAPTER LXIV.
NEPHITE PROPER NAMES—BIBLE NAMES—SARIAH—NEPHI—SAM—MELEK—JERSHON—ISABEL—AHA, ETC.,—PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES.
THE number of Bible proper names found in the Book of Mormon has been now and again urged as an argument against its divine origin. If those making these objections were to calmly consider the matter, we believe they would quickly acknowledge that it would be very inconsistent to expect the opposite. Nearly all devout races are in the habit of naming their children after the holy men—patriarchs, martyrs and sages—whose lives they reverence, and whose virtues they desire to see reproduced in their offspring. It is so with ourselves; nearly all our most familiar names are English forms of Bible names. For example: John, James, Jacob, Joseph and Thomas among men, and Mary, Anna, Elizabeth and Sarah among women. So it was with the Nephites. The Hebrew was the language of their sacred literature; while their fondest recollections, their holiest pride ran back to the days of Joseph and Joshua, Samuel and Isaiah, and, like other races, they named their children after the ancient worthies they reverenced most. Hence, we find the following Bible names borne by the descendants of Lehi [22] and Sariah: Aaron, Aminadab, Ammon, Ammah, Amos, Benjamin, Enos, Gideon, Gilgal, Helam, Helem, Isaiah, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Jeremiah, Jonas, Laban, Lemuel, Noah, Samuel, Shem, Timothy and Zedekiah. A few others are evidently slightly altered Hebrew names, as Chemish from Chemosh, Sherem from Shaaraim, and Zenos from Zenas. Indeed, there may be no actual difference; the apparent change may arise from the English translators inserting a wrong vowel sound in words where, according to the ancient custom, the consonants only were written.
We will now consider a few proper names found in the Book of Mormon, but not in the Bible; for, notwithstanding the changes made by the Nephites in their language, the derivation and significance of many of these names are evident, when considered in connection with the languages of the races with whom the ancient Hebrews were brought most closely in contact.
Sariah is obviously Hebrew. It is a name of extreme beauty and force. Its roots are in Sara, a princess, and Jah or Iah, Jehovah, thus meaning a princess of Jehovah; a most fitting name for the mother of a multitude of nations.
Nephi is another very remarkable name. Its roots are Egyptian; its meaning, good, excellent, benevolent. From very ancient times the Egyptians believed that all who died had to have their acts upon earth scrutinized by a council of inquisitors, before they could be proclaimed fit to enter the eternal abodes of bliss and stand in the presence of the god Osiris, the chief lord of the land of the departed. One of the names given to this god, expressive of his attributes, was Nephi or Dnephi (the D being silent, as Dniester, Dnieper, etc.), or the good, and the chief city dedicated to him was called N-ph, translated into Hebrew as Noph, in which form it appears in Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Its modern English name is Memphis. In the Coptic, the language of the modern Egyptians, the word has the form of Menfi or Mnefi. Plutarch, the ancient historian, says that Dnephi was a benevolent person, and an epithet for Osiris, and was also applicable to Memphis, the sepulchre of that god. The word Neph frequently appears in Egyptian proper names before the Christian era, as Amoneph, Amuneph, Me-Nephta. From these facts we conclude that Nephi was a common name in the Egyptian tongue; and, as far as the founder of the Nephite nation was concerned, most applicable to his character, which was pre-eminently good and benevolent.