Mosiah 27:4 Textual Variants

Royal Skousen
that they should let no pride [nor 1ABCEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST|or D] haughtiness disturb their peace

Here the original text reads “no pride nor haughtiness” (namely, we have the correlative no-nor). The 1841 British edition replaced the nor with or, thus creating an instance of the alternative correlative no-or. This change was probably accidental since no other instances of no-nor were replaced with no-or in that edition. In general, the original Book of Mormon text has examples of only no-nor conjoining noun phrases, none of no-or:

There is one other case where no-nor has been replaced by no-or:

In this case, the 1852 LDS edition made the change from nor to or. But unlike the 1841 example in Mosiah 27:4, this instance of no-or has been retained in the LDS text.

The prescriptive rule for the negative correlatives no-nor and no-or has changed over time. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage (see the second item listed under no) indicates that in the 19th century, no-nor was preferred, but in the 20th century this correlative was generally superseded by no-or. The Book of Mormon text follows the earlier preference. Since either correlative is theoretically possible, the critical text will follow the earliest textual sources in determining the reading (which means that there will be instances of only no-nor in the critical text). Here in Mosiah 27:4, no-nor will be maintained; in Alma 38:9, the no-nor will be restored. For further discussion, see under negation in volume 3.

Summary: Maintain the original no-nor correlative found in the earliest textual sources for Mosiah 27:4 and Alma 38:9 (and elsewhere in the text).

Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, Part. 3

References