Linguistic Anachronisms
Critics of the church have claimed that a variety of linguistic anachronisms exist in the Book of Mormon which cast doubt upon its historical authenticity. Linguistic anachronisms, in the Book of Mormon, are words that represent concepts that are not believed to have existed in the Americas between 2500 B.C. and 400 A.D., or in the Jewish world of Lehi's time - the period of history covered by the narrative of the Book of Mormon. Mormon apologists dispute these claims, with some counterarguments pointing out that during the translation of the golden plates, Joseph Smith may have chosen words that he knew that were closest in meaning to the original concept written on the plates (i.e., a "translator's anachronism").
Read more about this topic: Linguistics And The Book Of Mormon
Famous quotes containing the word linguistic:
“It is merely a linguistic peculiarity, not a logical fact, that we say “that is red” instead of “that reddens,” either in the sense of growing, becoming, red, or in the sense of making something else red.”
—John Dewey (1859–1952)