Is this true, the name Nauvoo?

[_ZelphtheGreat]

The name of our city (Nauvoo) is of Hebrew origin, and signifies a beautiful situation, or place, carrying with it, also, the idea of rest; and is truly descriptive of the most delightful location.

The statement above came from this proclamation: A Proclamation of the First Presidency of the Church to the Saints Scattered Abroad (January 15, 1841, Nauvoo, Illinois) [This document, signed by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith, reviews the progress of the Church in spite of hardships and persecution, and speaks at length on the prospects of the settlement of Nauvoo, as the following excerpts illustrate.

[_Chap]

Yup, it's true:

http://scholarsgateway.com/parse/%D7%A0 ... 7%95%D6%BC

Smith and his colleagues had begun to study Hebrew in 1835. Nauvoo was not so named until it was purchased by the Mormons in 1839.

http://www.nauvoo.com/nauvoo_beautiful.html

A Professor Joshua Seixas was hired by Joseph Smith and his associates to teach them Hebrew. They originally hired another teacher who turned out to be very unsatisfactory, but they were determined to learn the language as well as they could. So, On November 21, 1835, they agreed to send someone to New York to find a Jew who was more qualified to teach them. On January 4, 1836, however, William E. M'Lellin and Orson Hyde were dispatched to the Hudson, Ohio, to find the right person. When M'Lellin returned on January 6, 1836, he reported that he had hired a teacher who was "highly celebrated as a Hebrew scholar, and proposes to give us a sufficient knowledge during the above term to start us reading and translating the language." (Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 2:356). It was going to cost $320 for seven weeks, to have him teach forty "scholars." He would arrive in about 15 days. Meanwhile, the group continued to study as best they could. On February 15, according to Joseph Smith's History, they began "translating the Hebrew language, under the instruction of Professor Seixas, and he stated that we were the most forward of any class he ever instructed for the same length of time." (2:396). It was this same Professor Seixas who published the Hebrew grammar they used. Seixas was apparently a professor at Oberlin College.

[_ZelphtheGreat]

Having found so much that qualifies as Tennessee road apples, I wondered.

You know, stuff like Mormon really meaning "More Good" and such. Or have I also been fooled by the craftiness of men who lay in wait to deceive?

[_RockSlider]

2:356). It was going to cost $320 for seven weeks, to have him teach forty "scholars."

Does anyone know if he stayed more than the seven weeks? I had always heard he was/ended up good friends with J.S.

[_moksha]

I think the name Shady Rest was coined from the ancient Provonian, meaning "a place without berserk moderation". As trailer courts and discussion boards go, that was a prophetic naming.

[_Robert F Smith]

The name of our city (Nauvoo) is of Hebrew origin, and signifies a beautiful situation, or place, carrying with it, also, the idea of rest; and is truly descriptive of the most delightful location.

The statement above came from this proclamation: A Proclamation of the First Presidency of the Church to the Saints Scattered Abroad (January 15, 1841, Nauvoo, Illinois) [This document, signed by Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith, reviews the progress of the Church in spite of hardships and persecution, and speaks at length on the prospects of the settlement of Nauvoo, as the following excerpts illustrate.

The same name was used as the name of Hugh Nibley's ward in Provo, Utah, the Manavu Ward, taken from the Hebrew phrase mah nauvoo "How beautiful" in Isaiah 52:7.

In the first edition of her infamous and inaccurate book, No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie had a chapter on Nauvoo which began by claiming that "Nauvoo" is not Hebrew. She soon had to remove that claim, being embarrassed to find that it is indeed Hebrew.

[_LittleNipper]

I don't understand what the big deal is. Bethlehem is Hebrew and means "house of bread." There is a Bethlehem, PA. The reality is that more non-jewish people know Hebrew than one might imagine. Ben Franklin even wanted Hebrew to be America's languge (though he might have been kidding at the time). Nauvoo is a word that sounds nice. Joseph Smith obviously knew some Hebrew or had a friend who did.

[_Quasimodo]

I don't understand what the big deal is. Bethlehem is Hebrew and means "house of bread." There is a Bethlehem, PA. The reality is that more non-jewish people know Hebrew than one might imagine. Ben Franklin even wanted Hebrew to be America's languge (though he might have been kidding at the time). Nauvoo is a word that sounds nice. Joseph Smith obviously knew some Hebrew or had a friend who did.

Well, I suppose that the 'big deal' might be weather or not Joe Jr. had learned a little Hebrew before naming Nauvoo or if he had that word straight from God.

It appears as though he learned it without divine guidance. His accuracy in translating foreign tongues has been called into question more than a few times. Most specifically his translation of the Book of Abraham, which turned out to be a very common Egyptian prayer.

Apologists like to use his naming of Nauvoo as a proof of his other worldly abilities.

[_Bhodi]

Apologists like to use his naming of Nauvoo as a proof of his other worldly abilities.

Who has said this?

[_Robert F Smith]

I don't understand what the big deal is. Bethlehem is Hebrew and means "house of bread." There is a Bethlehem, PA. The reality is that more non-jewish people know Hebrew than one might imagine. Ben Franklin even wanted Hebrew to be America's languge (though he might have been kidding at the time). Nauvoo is a word that sounds nice. Joseph Smith obviously knew some Hebrew or had a friend who did.

Had you bothered to read chap's post in this thread, you'd know that Joseph was one of a number of students of Hebrew in Kirtland. In fact, he used that knowledge on a number of occasions.