Alma 42: 25 What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God. “
"...whit..."????
Origin:
1470–80; perh[aps] an alter[ation] of ME wiht
wiht origin:
From Germanic *wextiz. Cognate with Old Saxon wiht (Dutch wicht), Old High German wiht (German Wicht), Old Norse vættr (exceptional creature), vætr, véttr, or vétr (Danish vætte, Swedish vätte), Gothic (waihts).(ca. 12th c.)
[edit] Noun - wiht (plural wihtu)
creature, person, thing, being
Descendants: English: wight; whit
So here we have another example of a word used in the BoM whose origins can be traced as far back as the 12th century, but I can't trace it back any further.
How did such a word come to be used in a book supposedly written hundreds of years earlier and never be known in another language until the Norse, Germanic and Scandinavian cultures came onto the scene?
Yeah, I'm with ya' here.
Pardon me if I pull no punches, and use your post to go farther than you would wish, but I have no problem directly impugning some Mormon leaders and apologists (right up to the level of the Quorum of the Twelve and Joseph Smith).
I have no problem believing that there are those who are entirely "whitting" in their deception.