Is "Reformed Egyptian" a real language?

[Will]

Thanks again for all the info, everyone.

Kosher ... you have any references I could look at? I've never heard of anything like that.

[HiJolly]

I believe Reformed Egyptian is related to Negev, an ancient language from the desert between Egypt and Israel, a writing that has been discovered on ancient American artifacts.

Hebrew language encoded in Meroitic has been (within the last 10 years) been found in the old world, IIRC. Not that I wish to equate that with "reformed Egyptian".

HiJolly

[KosherXMorg]

Thanks again for all the info, everyone.

Kosher ... you have any references I could look at? I've never heard of anything like that.

Absolutely...

COAST TO COAST AM WITH GEORGE NOORY

[HiJolly]

Absolutely...

COAST TO COAST AM WITH GEORGE NOORY

Not that I'm the most credible guy on the planet, but my "BS" meter just went berzerk.

HiJolly

[KosherXMorg]

Not that I'm the most credible guy on the planet, but my "BS" meter just went berzerk.

HiJolly

Yeah, I know what you mean. When I hear stories about 9' tall men dressed like Quakers living on the Moon, it just goes ballistic.

[Will]

Kosher: thanks for the link, but you'll have to excuse my hesitation to believe information from a radio show about alien abductions, crop circles, and the like. I spent about 30 minutes trying to verify that information from any halfway-scholarly source, but I couldn't.

HiJolly: same thing ... any resources that I could look at? Thanks in advance.

[KosherXMorg]

Kosher: thanks for the link, but you'll have to excuse my hesitation to believe information from a radio show about alien abductions, crop circles, and the like. I spent about 30 minutes trying to verify that information from any halfway-scholarly source, but I couldn't.

HiJolly: same thing ... any resources that I could look at? Thanks in advance.

Do you use Google at all??

First Tongue: An early global language

is BYU scholarly enough for you?

The Names of God

arrrggghhh.

[HiJolly]

Yeah, I know what you mean. When I hear stories about 9' tall men dressed like Quakers living on the Moon, it just goes ballistic.

...guess you had to be there...

HiJolly

[Will]

I typicall use Windows Live Search ... do you feel that this is significant?

I'm happy to consider ideas from any source, though I always look at the credibility. I wouldn't say that BYU is any less "scholarly" than anywhere else. They definitely have an agenda associated with their work, but then everybody does to some degree or another. But the main thing I look for when looking for credibility is peer review and acceptance. In matters I don't have an understanding of, I'm going to be much more likely to believe the consensus of the experts rather than a single person with dissenting views.

The BYU article has some interesting Negev scripts about the Jewish people and their God, but it doesn't really relate to the New World.

And after a fair bit of research, it seems the "universal ancient language" stuff can all be traced back to a single man: James R. Harris. Harris, a BYU archaeologist, connects glyphs from all over the world in an effort to show that the Jewish people not only visited North and Central America, but Australia as well. However, it would seem that Harris' conclusions have not been accepted as reasonable. In fact, a BYU review of his book gave his research as well as his conclusions extremely harsh criticism:

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/pdf.php?filename=MTI3OTY4MTctNC0xLnBkZg==&type=cmV2aWV3

[KosherXMorg]

I typicall use Windows Live Search ... do you feel that this is significant?

I'm happy to consider ideas from any source, though I always look at the credibility. I wouldn't say that BYU is any less "scholarly" than anywhere else. They definitely have an agenda associated with their work, but then everybody does to some degree or another. But the main thing I look for when looking for credibility is peer review and acceptance. In matters I don't have an understanding of, I'm going to be much more likely to believe the consensus of the experts rather than a single person with dissenting views.

The BYU article has some interesting Negev scripts about the Jewish people and their God, but it doesn't really relate to the New World.

And after a fair bit of research, it seems the "universal ancient language" stuff can all be traced back to a single man: James R. Harris. Harris, a BYU archaeologist, connects glyphs from all over the world in an effort to show that the Jewish people not only visited North and Central America, but Australia as well. However, it would seem that Harris' conclusions have not been accepted as reasonable. In fact, a BYU review of his book gave his research as well as his conclusions extremely harsh criticism:

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/pdf.php?filename=MTI3OTY4MTctNC0xLnBkZg==&type=cmV2aWV3

My point was that Negev is indeed an ancient language, which you seemed to be doubting. I could care less about the other crap.

[Will]

Oh. I was simply doubting your claim that it had been found in the Americas, and I was focusing on that. I don't have time to research it all right now, but from what you've said it sounds like Old Negev is a pretty widely-accepted thing. I'll check into it later. Thanks again.

[HiJolly]

Kosher: thanks for the link, but you'll have to excuse my hesitation to believe information from a radio show about alien abductions, crop circles, and the like. I spent about 30 minutes trying to verify that information from any halfway-scholarly source, but I couldn't.

HiJolly: same thing ... any resources that I could look at? Thanks in advance.

I think I read about it on the MA&DB site, but I just did a search there and didn't find it... Sorry.

HiJolly

[Will]

Well ... thanks for trying.

[Moksha]

Egyptian was around for thousands of years. No doubt in that time it needed a little reforming. I mean, walking like an Egyptian is fine, but what about when it came to needing to have a book contained within just a few scrolls? That called for a highly reformed and compacted way of reinterpreting those images.

Hope that helped.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Perhaps it was similar to some of our forms of shorthand? It would be spoken the same but easier to write.

[Hemidakota]

Thanks again for all the info, everyone.

Kosher ... you have any references I could look at? I've never heard of anything like that.

Will, this is Professor Poulsen who I was referring too who answered your post....

[Will]

Hemi: the one that sent me to the alien abduction website? =) Well, I'm glad you told me!

Moksha: I wish they'd do that to English. I might actually read that copy of Joyce's "Ulysses" that has been weighing down my bookshelf for years. =)

Willow: so it's a shorthand used by a small group of people and therefore not in widespread use. That sounds fair enough. Thanks.

[Will]

Kosher:

After looking into it further, I couldn't find a single credible reference to "Old Negev" as a language outside of the research of BYU (especially to Dr. Harris, the one whose theories were recognized as highly flawed by the BYU review I posted). Again, this alone isn't proof that it is false. But much more so than in philosophy or theology, it's very hard to claim that historical or scientific truth lies within a dissenting minority view.

I took a closer look at the "Names of God" page you posted. I couldn't help but notice the supposed translations from "Old Negev" to Hebrew are not consistent. Similar symbols are translated differently, and differing symbols are translated identically. The author doesn't give any mention of translation methodologies or why (s)he thinks that it relates to Hebrew.

All this being said, please, PLEASE know that I don't mean this as any sort of personal attack against you our your beliefs. I have no reason to think that you're not a great person and a agreat thinker. I'm just the kind of person who has to make sense of this for myself rather that relying on everything people tell me. Thanks again for all the info you've given me.

[Hemidakota]

Will, your purpose in searching the truth to ASK, STUDY, PONDER, MAKE AN ASSUMPTION, and ask GOD whether or not it is true or not.

[christmasvalleyfarms]

Hi Will

I just wanted to say thank you. For your decency and your respect and your curiosity! You sound like a very thoughtful, honest person. Kudos for not relying on what people tell you. You're too young to remember those "Question Authority" bumper stickers that were ubiquitous in the 60's and 70's; but my motto is "Question Everything" - actually someone much wiser than I said it even better - "prove all things; hold fast that which is good". Just one thought I'd offer to this discussion, though - we have a scripture in our Doctrine and Covenants that reminds us to "seek learning, even by study and also by faith." (Doctrine and Covenants 88:118). I don't know what your background of faith is, but I'd just like to encourage you not to forget that "arm" of your process of inquiry. The arm of flesh, or reason, can only go so far in leading us to the truth. I wish you luck and blessings in your search!

[Will]

Hemi ... sometimes people's claims don't make it past steps 2 and 3 =)

CVF ... decency, respect, curiosity an honesty are certainly my aspirations! And if I'm going to call something one of my beliefs, then I believe I have an intellectual responsibility to make sure it's not a false belief. I'm not entirely sure where I stand right now ... somewhere between agnosticism and christianity. I'm not personally 100% convinced that God reveals truths beyond what we can know on our own, but I'm not trying to challenge your beliefs or suggest that you should think the same way as me. But what I think we both can agree on is that something is not worth considering if it can be proven false through reason. And I'm not saying that this is the case of anything that we're considering here, just as a general principle. Thanks for your thoughts, I really appreciate it!

[Moksha]

Moksha: I wish they'd do that to English. I might actually read that copy of Joyce's "Ulysses" that has been weighing down my bookshelf for years. =)

Not to mention saving on paper. The entire Encyclopedia Britannica could be whittled down to a five inch thick comic book size edition.

[Hemidakota]

Perhaps a few symbols....LOL

[Maya]

IMHO it was as much a languageas latin is now ...how many people speak latin??

[Will]

Wait a minute ... how condensed IS this language? There's a limit to how much you can do before you either lose information or need a ridiculously huge set of characters. How many plates were there?