Alma 25:4 Textual Variants

Here the word form amost occurs in both the original and printer’s manuscripts. This form may not be simply a scribal error for almost, but rather the dialectal a’most, which (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) has occurred since the 1700s. The OED, under almost, gives a citation from Samuel Palmer in 1710: “They had a’most as live be call’d anything, as to be thought too old for an agreeable conversation” (original spelling); there is also one from Walter Scott in 1816 but as amaist, a Scottish dialectal form: “As sair vexed amaist for you as for me” (equivalent to “As sore vexed almost for you as for me”).

Of course, there is no reason for the standard text to use a dialectal form for almost, even though the two manuscripts consistently give amost here in Alma 25:4. Perhaps the amost in 𝓞 is simply a scribal slip that Oliver Cowdery unthinkingly copied into 𝓟. Don Brugger suggests (personal communication) that Oliver’s amost might have been influenced by the preceding occurrence of among in this verse (“and among the Lamanites which were slain”). It’s also possible that in his own dialect Oliver actually pronounced almost as amost. Whatever explanation we might consider for amost, it should be emphasized that nowhere else in the text is there any evidence for amost. In all, there are 11 occurrences of almost in the text, of which Oliver misspells two as allmost (in Jacob 5:47 and the Words of Mormon 1:1). There is also one instance of almost spelled as alsmost (in Alma 26:20), a scribal slip influenced by the word also or by the s later on in almost.

There is evidence that Oliver Cowdery occasionally omitted the letter l in other words, especially when there was an adjacent consonant, as in the following examples in 𝓟:

Most likely, the spelling amost in 𝓞 for Alma 25:4 was simply a scribal slip on Oliver’s part. The critical text will accept the 1830 compositor’s decision to set amost as almost.

Another possibility should be noted: here amost could be an error for the colloquial most(ly). Elsewhere in the text, however, there are five occurrences of “almost all” (as here in the standard text for Alma 25:4) but none of “most all” and “mostly all”.