Both the current LDS and RLDS texts refer to cimeters in 11 different passages. The only textual question here is what standard English word might cimeter stand for. It is not immediately obvious from the textual history, given the considerable variation in the spelling for this word:
Virtually all the manuscript spellings of this word begin with sim (only one begins with sym). We get considerably more variation in the spelling of the second vowel (as either e or i ) and the final syllabic r (as either er, re, or ar). In the following list of manuscript misspellings for this word, I ignore capitalization and list the plurals with the singulars:
| 𝓞 | 𝓟 | |
| simeter | 4 | 4 |
| simetre | 1 | 2 |
| simetar | 2 | — |
| simiter | — | 1 |
| simitre | — | 1 |
| simitar | — | 2 |
| symatre | — | 1 |
The 1849 LDS edition, for the last six examples (from Alma 43:18 on), has the spelling scimitar, which refers to ‘a short, curved, single-edged sword’ (the definition found in the Oxford English Dictionary). The OED indicates that the spelling cimeter was prevalent from the 17th through the 19th centuries. In the online version of the OED, there are four citations of cimeter(s), which is the most prevalent nonstandard spelling of the word in the online OED. On the other hand, there are 30 citations in the online OED for the standard scimitar(s). Both spellings are found in English sources from the 1500s on. The spelling scimitar is based on the Italian scimitarra, whereas cimeter is based on the French cimeterre.
The OED lists only the pronunciation /sImßtt/, but Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary gives both /sImßtt/ and /sImßtar/ (in that order). The second pronunciation seems to be a spelling pronunciation. The two occurrences of the spelling simetar in the original manuscript could be interpreted as evidence that Joseph Smith might have sometimes pronounced the word as /sImßtar/. Another possibility, perhaps more likely, is that the spelling simetar was due to the spelling of the word similar. The two other spellings in 𝓞, simeter and simetre, clearly support the pronunciation /sImßtt/. It is probably the case that Joseph Smith consistently pronounced the word as /sImßtt/, the pronunciation of his day.
In his 1828 dictionary Noah Webster, recognizing the extreme diversity for the spelling of this word, advocated the spelling cimiter (not cimeter) as the “most simple”. His dictionary lists the spelling scimitar but refers the reader to cimiter. This spelling occurs only once in the entire history of the Book of Mormon text, in the 1841 British edition for Helaman 1:14. The 1830 typesetter, on the other hand, selected the common spelling cimeter, which has more or less prevailed in the textual history. However, this spelling is undoubtedly confusing to modern-day readers who might not be able to recognize the word cimeter as a variant spelling of scimitar. The critical text will use the standard spelling of today, scimitar.
Summary: In order to facilitate the modern-day reader’s understanding, the critical text will replace the archaic spelling cimeter with the standard spelling scimitar.