(Supposed)

Book of Mormon Anachronisms

(c) Copyright Michael R. Ash 1996. All rights reserved

Animals
The term “cattle” is used three times in the Book of Mormon (Ether 9:17-19; Enos 1:21; 3 Nephi 3:22), while the term “cow” is used twice (Ether 9:18; 1 Nephi 18:25). The Jaredite record is unclear as to whether “cattle” and “cows” are the same, or if “cows” are a subcategory of “cattle.” The critics, however, assure us that “scientific research has demonstrated that the American continent was devoid of many domestic animals such as cattle . . . ” (McElveen, 62.)

As with many other animals in the Book of Mormon, it is likely that these Book of Mormon terms are the product of reassigning familiar labels to unfamiliar items (see for instance my paper on the Book of Mormons use of the term “ horse”). The Miami Indians, for example, were unfamiliar with the buffalo and simply called them “wild cows.” Likewise the “explorer DeSoto called the buffalo simply vaca, cow. The Delaware Indians named the cow after the deer, and the Miami tribe labeled sheep, when they first saw them, ‘looks-like-a-cow’” (Sorenson, 1985, p. 294).

Michael R. Ash

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