Cureloms And Cumoms

[Olavarria]

Ether 9:19 And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms;

When studying the etymology of Jaredite words, the book of Ether makes things complicated. These names come to us through five channels of transmission. The original historical sources, Ether’s redaction of those sources into his record, Mosiah’s translation of that record, Moroni’s redaction of that translation for his account and Joseph’s translation of Moroni’s account. We can never be certain which language(s) Jared’s people spoke. One possibility is the oldest attested Semitic language, spoken in Mesopotamia, Akkadian.

The following are two possible sources for these words. Though I don't belive a curelom is a lamb or that a cumom is a pelican, I think it's likely that given these possible Akkadian roots, a curelom is quadruped useful for both food and clothing material and that a cumom is some type of bird.

Curelom

Cumom

Edited December 6, 2011 by Pedro A. Olavarria

[Mariner]

If Joseph Smith could accurately translate many dozens (perhaps hundreds) of other common Book of Mormon nouns into English, why do you think was he unable to simply translate Curelom and Cumon into English?

Are we to believe that these are some kind of cryptozoological or long-extinct species that left no fossil remains and for which there is no English translation?

And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms. (Ether 9:19)

Considering the context in which these crypto-species are mentioned, it is pretty unlikely that the cumon was a bird.

Given that there is no evidence that there were elephants or horses in the Western Hemisphere at the time of the Jaredites, it is more likely is that the existence of all the animals mentioned in Ether 9:19 in the Western Hemisphere, and especially the cureloms and cumons, was an imaginary one.

[CA Steve]

How do you know they are even animals? Perhaps they are some sort of elephant tack.

[Cobalt-70]

The following are two possible sources for these words. Though I don't belive a curelom is a lamb or that a cumom is a pelican, I think it's likely that given these possible Akkadian roots, a curelom is quadruped useful for both food and clothing material and that a cumom is some type of bird.

From the context, the curelom and cumom were likely intended by Smith to be large pack animals. Also, you don't provide a linguistic theory as to how an Adamic "curelom" could have morphed over time into the Akkadian "kalumu," or how the Adamic "cumom" could have morphed into the Akkadian "kumu." Linguistic drift follows a set of generally-known rules, and unless those rules can be explained, it is merely parallelomania to identify words that are vaguely similar. Also, for this to be a viable linguistic theory, you would have to find a similar word in a related language, and show that the word in the root language would have been more similar to the purported Adamic than is either Akkadian or the other language.

[BCSpace]

If Joseph Smith could accurately translate many dozens (perhaps hundreds) of other common Book of Mormon nouns into English, why do you think was he unable to simply translate Curelom and Cumon into English?

Are we to believe that these are some kind of cryptozoological or long-extinct species that left no fossil remains and for which there is no English translation?

I'm thinking they could be animals which were extant in JS's time but JS, having never seen or heard of them, didn't render into English because he did not have a point of reference. I suppose he could have called a llama a goat but he didn't having not seen or heard of a llama before (assuming llama is one of those). The fact that he didn't could also be a very good indication that a horse is a horse in the case of BoM translation and not a dog or a tapir.

Edited December 6, 2011 by BCSpace

[ldsfaqs]

Given that there is no evidence that there were elephants or horses in the Western Hemisphere at the time of the Jaredites, it is more likely is that the existence of all the animals mentioned in Ether 9:19 in the Western Hemisphere, and especially the cureloms and cumons, was an imaginary one.

First, one needs to only show evidence of horses or elephants pre-columbian and close to Jaredite or Lehite time periods.

Second, both have in fact been done. Evidences for both have been found in time periods at and close enough to BOM times.

Thus your claim that no horses or elephants have been found is simply false.

If you don't believe me, just Google "evidence of horses in the book of mormon".

Just did this recently myself finding several links of information which shows many evidences, from writings, to pictures, to bones.

You have to weed through a couple of pages of search results eliminating the anti-mormon junk, but the evidences are there.

I wish FAIR would update their "horse" info, because their Wiki says almost nothing on the matter, showing really no evidences at all.

[Olavarria]

From the context, the curelom and cumom were likely intended by Smith to be large pack animals. Also, you don't provide a linguistic theory as to how an Adamic "curelom" could have morphed over time into the Akkadian "kalumu," or how the Adamic "cumom" could have morphed into the Akkadian "kumu." Linguistic drift follows a set of generally-known rules, and unless those rules can be explained, it is merely parallelomania to identify words that are vaguely similar. Also, for this to be a viable linguistic theory, you would have to find a similar word in a related language, and show that the word in the root language would have been more similar to the purported Adamic than is either Akkadian or the other language.

After talking it over with some folks, I now believe that the Jaredites did not have access to Akkadian, so this whole thread is null and void.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Pedro A. Olavarria