Wednesday, February 6, 2019

ExMormon Reddit Proves "Loanshifting"

The ExMormon Reddit page has proven what Latter-day Saint scholars and apologists (e.g., John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon [1985]) have been arguing for years, that is, the Book of Mormon peoples used Old World terms for New World plants and animals.

On a thread about horses in the Book of Mormon, the opening post has the following map of (some, not all) Native American etymologies for "horse." Notice that terms such as "big/sacred/mystery dog" and "[Tame] Elk" are used to denote horses.




On "horses" and the Book of Mormon, see Wade E. Miller and Matthew Roper, Animals in the Book of Mormon: Challenges and Perspectives