Keywords
straight, strait, Book of Mormon, critical text
Abstract
A complete analysis of the full range of usage patterns for all forms of strait and straight in the Book of Mormon provides sufficient contextual evidence for resolving the orthographical problems that were introduced through these homophones in the manuscripts and the 1830 edition. The article lists all 27 occurrences of some form of straight in the 1830 edition, indicating which ones were changed to strait and in which LDS editions they were revised. The evidence, we believe, indicates that most of these later changes were correct. But because the Book of Mormon usage introduced by Nephi was distinctive, and not derived from the New Testament, editorial efforts to make the text more consistent with a perceived biblical parallel may have led to some problematic spellings.
Original Publication Citation
Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, vol. 10 (No. 2, 2001): 30–33,
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Reynolds, Noel B. and Skousen, Royal, "Was the Path Nephi Saw ‘Strait and Narrow’ or ‘Straight and Narrow'" (2001). Faculty Publications. 1487.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/1487
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2001
Permanent URL
http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/3450
Publisher
Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University
Language
English
College
Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Department
Political Science
Copyright Status
The copyright to this article is held by the authors, Noel B. Reynolds and Royal Skousen
Copyright Use Information
http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/