Would like some feedback...

Calista
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You know sometimes when you get an itch on your back that you can't quite reach, and directing others to the spot to help you scratch it seems to make it worse?

The following situation is kind of like that for me.

When I was 17 I was reading the Book of Mormon and noticed a rather peculiar phrase. I tried to ignore it, but then I started noticing it over and over again throughout the pages of the book. Since I was the one giving the doctrinal insights to my seminary class, I knew that my teacher there could be of no help. My parents were no good either.

So when I was a freshman at BYU in Book of Mormon 121 with Brother Parker, I decided it was finally a good time to ask. After class I went up to the teacher and pointed out a particular verse and quoted it to him, "But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness." (1 Nephi 5:5)

Does anyone notice anything...grammatically odd about that sentence?

"But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness."

What on earth does "in the which" mean?

I asked Brother Parker about it, thinking this probably had something to do with the chiasmus or literary style or something like that, but the only answer I got was to make sure that this "in the which" problem I had didn't shake my faith in the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

So I gave up trying to solve the problem. But you know what? I've been noticing it again - the itch is back!

So to my grammarian associates, can anyone explain, in simple regular English terms, why "in the which" makes sense?

Thank you.

And p.s., I still have a testimony. In case you were wondering. :)

3 comments:

Audrey said...

I have no idea, friend. But I'm leaving you a comment because I like you, and comments are fun.

Cheers!

October 13, 2009 at 9:44 PM
Edward said...

I use "in the which" all the time in speech and writing; I believe it's simply a phrase that redirects the focus of the sentence to a particular object; in this case, the "which thing" is the land of promise. I've always considered "in the which things" and other similar phrases to be rather lovely and stylish. I will admit though it does catch some people off-guard. Is it simply become antiquated these days? I'm not sure.

October 14, 2009 at 9:54 AM
Sister Sumsion said...

I think "in the which" is simply an "antiquated," as Edward called it, form of the prepositional idea "in which." Of course, the meaning is not complete without "things," which would be the object of the preposition. "In the which things" is a 19th-century way of referring to all the events and consequences surrounding the speaker's having "obtained the promised land," about (in) which the speaker rejoices.

PS Sorry about the Magistra Claudia thing; I had to create a blogspot once for my education technology class, and I guess blogspot "knows" me now.

October 30, 2009 at 8:24 AM

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