Book of Mormon/Language/"Adieu"

Criticism

Jacob 7:27 ends with the phrase, "Brethren, adieu." Critics claim that because adieu is French, it shows that Joseph Smith composed the Book of Mormon, and not an ancient author.

Source(s) of the Criticism

  • John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Mormonism (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1992), 322.
  • Ed Decker, Decker's Complete Handbook on Mormonism (Eugene: Harvest House, 1995), 113.
  • James White, Letters to a Mormon Elder (Southbridge, MA: Crowne, 1990), 145.

Response

The Book of Mormon is a translation. This means that it is no more likely that the word adieu appeared on the plates than the words yea, beginning, or sword.

Adieu is Joseph's translation of a concept expressed by Jacob. In French, adieu implies "farewell until we meet with God." This is a fitting finale to Jacob's testimony and writing.

Joseph Smith was likely unaware that adieu was a French word. Like many words that were originally French, adieu was adopted into English— it was in use by at least 1374.

French at the time of Christ?

In 1737, William Whiston (1667-1752) produced a translation of The Life of Flavius Josephus, written by a Jew born in Jerusalem in A.D. 37. Whiston's translation reads, in part:

Thus have I set down the genealog of my family as I have found it described in the public records, and so bid adieu to those who calumniate me...off-site

Presumably, the critics would have us believe that Whiston is claiming that Josephus, a first century Jew, spoke French (a language not yet invented) because he uses the term adieu?

Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is nothing if not an English writer. He uses adieu frequently in his plays:

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5
GHOST:Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me.off-site
The Merchant of Venice, Act 2, Scene 3
LAUNCELOT Adieu! tears exhibit my tongue. Most beautiful/ pagan, most sweet Jew!off-site
Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5
ROMEO: Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!off-site
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, Scene 1
NYM: Adieu. I love not the humour of bread and cheese,/ and there's the humour of it. Adieu.

There are over a hundred other examples.off-site

The Declaration of Independence

A segment of the fourth page of Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration of Independence (original in Library of Congress). The red line indicates where Jefferson has written "everlasting Adieu," which he later struck out and replaced with the text underlined in green, "eternal separation." *

Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence read, in part (beginning shown in image by blue underline):

...be it so, since they will have it: the road to glory & happiness is open to us too; we will climb it in a separate state, and acquiesce in the necessity which pronounces our everlasting Adieu![1]

Jefferson later crossed out "everlasting Adieu," and replaced it with "eternal separation."[2]

Dictionaries

Noah Webster's 1828 American dictionary demonstrates that adieu was perfectly good English the year prior to the Book of Mormon's translation:

ADIEU', Adu'.

Farewell; an expression of kind wishes at the parting of friends.

ADIEU', n. A farewell, or commendation to the care of God; as an everlasting adieu.

John and Charles Wesley

The Wesley brothers, founders of Methodism, used adieu in some of their hymns:

Hymn 285
I'll bid this world of noise and show/ With all its glittering snares, adieu! off-site
Hymn 809
VAIN, delusive world, adieu...off-site[3]

Furthermore, John Wesley was fond of adieu, using it many times in his personal letters. A few examples follow; more are availableoff-site

5 January 1763 to Charles Wesley
"We join in love to you both. My wife gains ground. She is quite peaceable and loving to all. Adieu!"off-site
17 May 1742 to Charles Wesley
Let all the brethren pray for me. Adieu!off-site
15 December 1772 to Charles Wesley
My love to all. Adieu!off-site
16 December 1772 to Mrs. Bennis
My dear sister, adieuoff-site

Use Among LDS Members

Index page from the 1835 book of hymns chosen by Emma Smith for use in the Church. Original from BYU library.off-site

Closer to home, hymn #52 (penned by a non-LDS author) collected by Emma Smith for the use of the Church, adieu is used twice in the first line:

Adieu, my dear brethren adieu,
Reluctant we give you the hand,
No more to assemble with you,
Till we on mount Zion shall stand.[4]

Clearly, this was a word familiar to Joseph and his contemporaries. The Church's the Times and Seasons periodical used the word 19 times.

Conclusion

"Adieu" is simply one English word among many in the Book of Mormon translation. It was in common use among members and non-members in Joseph's era. Critics try to confuse this issue simply because its French origins are more apparent to the general reader. All its presence indicates is that the concept which Jacob intended to communicate was "farewell forever, or until we meet God."

The critics' complaints on this point demonstrate how desperate they are to find fault.

Endnotes

  1. [note]  Thomas Jefferson, "original Rough draght," The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 1:1760-1776 (Princeton University Press, 1950), 423–428. *
  2. [note]  Editorial Note, "Jefferson's 'original Rough draught,' of the Declaration of Independence," (Princeton University Press, 2004), 6, footnote 16. *
  3. [note]  John Wesley, A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Book Room, 1889 [1780]), #285, #809.
  4. [note] Emma Smith, A Collection of Sacred Hymns, for the Church of the Latter Day Saints Hymn 52, (Kirtland, Ohio: F. G. Williams & co., 1835), 68.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Book of Mormon/Language/"Adieu"

FAIR web site

External links

  • "How is it that the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob ends his account with the French word 'adieu'?]", farms.byu.edu (accessed 14 June 2006).off-site
  • Jeff Lindsay, "Why does the Book of Jacob end with a French word?]", lightplanet.com (accessed 14 June 2006).off-site
  • Edward J. Brandt, "Why are the words adieu, bible, and baptize in the Book of Mormon? These words weren't known in Book of Mormon times," Ensign (October 1985): 17. off-site

Printed material

  • Daniel C. Peterson, "Is the Book of Mormon True? Notes on the Debate," in Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins (chapter 6), edited by Noel B. Reynolds, (Provo: FARMS, 1997). GospeLink
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