Liahona Etymology: Coining a Name

by David G. Woolley

*Editor's Note: If you're just tuning in, we've changed our usual programming for May due to a fast-approaching submission deadline for the soon-to-be-released Compass of God and we invite your feedback on the following scene along with pleas for feedback on previous posts.

If you've got a minute, have a look at this scene and post your comments on the comment page. The point of view character is Sarah, daughter of Jonathan the Blacksmith. This scene is based on historical notes which will appear in the printed version of Compass of God detailing the careful etymology of two Hebrew words Ona and L-iah (or el-iah). Those in the Book of Mormon who first encountered the unfamiliar device likely combined the Hebrew Ona and L-iah to coin the word Liahona, essentially creating a new word based largely on how they used and how they viewed the most important operational aspects of the navigational instrument. Warning: other chapters provide further details regarding the writings that appeared on the Liahona and its possible origins, however this particular scene is devoted to the etymology of the Compass of God.

Chapter Number: TBD

Scene: 1 of 1

Purpose: Multi-faceted. Transfer of the Liahona from Mulek to Sarah. Show how the name Liahona was likely given to the compass. Strengthen the relationship between Mulek and Sarah for future scenes. Underscore the major theme of the novel: Compass of God.

Point of View Character: Sarah, daughter of Jonathan the Blacksmith

Characters on scene: Two (Mulek and Sarah, with Cameo appearance by Ruth, Sarah's mother)

Dramatic High Point: Multiple Points (The appearance of Ruth, The revealling of the name of the Compass, the accptance of the compass by Sarah as guardian)


Begin Scene

* * * * *

"Who's there?"

Sarah turned from the water cistern and lifted the oil lamp up to the canopy of olive trees shielding the starry night. There was no late evening breeze to make such a noise. No night fowl. Not a single reason for the erratic shaking that jumped through the branches like an African monkey. She left her urn beside the water cistern and slowly backed toward the kitchen door. Something wasn't right and she had to warn Papa to hide Aaron. Quickly. She'd never heard or seen anything like this since the day—

"Good evening, Sarah."

She spun around to find a man standing behind her. How did he know her name? She raised the lamp to his face. He was a good two hands taller with straight brown hair, a straighter nose, and high cheeks. Despite the start he gave her she didn't call out, she didn't run away, she was possessed by a calmness that begged her to be still. He wasn't a soldier, not by the white chamber servant's robe that draped over his square shoulders and cut short just above the knee, revealing long-boned legs and rather expensive leather sandals for a servant. "How did you get in here?"

"How I always get in."

That was impossible. They watched the house carefully. Latched all the doors. No one came onto the property without them knowing about it—not since they found Aaron half-dead in the courtyard. There was something strangely familiar about the stranger's eyes and when he smiled she saw the memory of years past standing before her. "Mulek?"

"Did I frighten you?"

"You're alive?"

"Answer me this." Mulek took her hand and pressed it over his heart. "Is it still beating?"

"It is you. Who else could it be?" Sarah slowly took her hand back. "It's been so long since my father took you away to Sidon. I assumed that, well, we had no word for so many years."

"You look well, Sarah."

Mulek spoke with a much deeper voice than she remembered and it made a handsome sound to hear him say her name. She quickly combed through her deep red hair with her fingers. Did he notice most of her childhood freckles were gone—just as Papa promised they would disappear? "I wouldn't have recognized you dressed like—

"Like a chamber boy?"

Sarah laughed.

"Think of me as a navigator."

What an odd choice of words for a prince.

"I've been at sea these many years."

"The Prince of Judah a sailor?"

"Something like that, yes."

Sarah laughed again, loudly enough that Ruth called from inside the kitchen window, asking if she was all right.

"Mama, you're not going to believe who—

Mulek pulled her close, pressed her shoulders against his chest and covered her mouth with his hand, telling her not to say a word about his return. The force of his movement was so sudden and the change of inflection from playful to serious gave her a frightening start. He whispered he was hiding in the royal palace chambers masquerading as a chamber boy and beyond his mother and father, no one, not even his younger brothers whom he watched everyday since his return last week, knew he was in Jerusalem. He thanked her for her father saving his life by spiriting him off to Sidon so many years before, but he couldn't thank him personally. Not yet. It was safer for everyone that they not know of his return.

"Sarah?" Ruth leaned out the window. "What did you say girl?"

Mulek let her go, placed his finger to his lips reminding her not to reveal what he'd told her and then he backed away with both hands in the air like a prisoner at her mercy before disappearing behind the trunk of an olive tree and leaving her in full view of the window. Why was his life veiled in so much secrecy? He was a good, honest man, and a kind soul. Humble for one so intelligent. Educated beyond his years, and willing to sacrifice his safety for the lives of the prophets. He'd been that way since she first met him and there was no reason to believe that the years spanning his absence had done anything but prove him worthy of the deepest trust. Sarah lifted her lamp to claim Ruth's attention and when mama turned her way she said, "You're not going to believe this."

"What is it dear?"

A small pebble flew from behind the tree trunk and hit her in the back of the head.

"Ouch."

"What was that, daughter?"

"I said…" Sarah stepped away from the tree trunk and raised her voice. "You're not going to believe what a—

Three more pebbles, thrown with a powerful arm, struck her in the backside and she squealed.

"Is everything all right, dear?"

"Stop it!"

Ruth leaned further out the window. "Stop what?"

Sarah shook her finger at the tree trunk before turning back to Ruth. Keeping Mulek's secret didn't worry her nearly as much as his rock throwing. She quickly said, "You're not going to believe what a beautiful night it is." She glanced at the trunk and when she was certain another rock wasn't coming for her she added, "A rather ageless, mysterious night."

"Don't stay too long, dear." Ruth held the sill with both hands. "I need water to boil for your father's tea."

Sarah waited for Ruth to pull back inside before slowly stepping around the olive tree to find Mulek with his back braced against the trunk. He held a cedar box close to his body with both hands—a box he didn't possess when first he surprised her. Somehow he managed to sneak the contraband into the yard and hide it behind the tree without her seeing. "Does the Prince of Judah really need to sneak about with so much secrecy? You're safe now. Captain Laban's dead. He can't hurt you."

Mulek stood away from the tree. "I had to be sure that you were still the same Sarah I remembered the day I first met you."

"You mean the girl foolish enough to play beneath the water clock."

"You remember."

"How could I forget? Red clay flecks dotted my cheeks and I was soaking wet like a wilted lily on a pond."

"Your freckles." Mulek brushed his thumb across her face. "They're gone."

"I remember your hair." Sarah touched his long hair that reached to just above his shoulders.

"You mean the hair I didn't have?"

"You shaved it down to the scalp like an Egyptian school boy with a long tail growing out the side."

"It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

"And you escorted your mother as if…"

"As if I were a palace watchman announcing a royal visit?" Mulek shook his head. "Mother insisted I learn royal etiquette."

"She trusted you."

"And I trusted her." Mulek took Sarah by the arm and thanked her for noticing how much he honored his mother. "So much has changed."

"Not everything." Sarah tugged on his the sleeve of his white chamber boy's robe. "I never stopped believing you'd come back. Someday."

"I never stopped believing I could trust you." Mulek lifted the lid to the cedar box and removed a brass ball engraved with constellations and decorated with small writing plates dangling from hooks about the base. "It's worth more than all the gold in Judah." He placed the smooth, round ball into her hands. "I want you to keep it safe for now."

"Wouldn't the palace treasury be a better choice?"

"That's the first place they'll look if they find out I've returned."

"If who finds out?"

"Will you keep it hidden for me?"

A lattice work of arching brass graced the open top and begged her examination of the inner workings. Two spindles, the tip of one fixed in place with a small brass latch around a post and the other free floating, were balanced on a fulcrum in the center of an ornately carved face. Four large brass posts were set in a circular pattern around the perimeter, the largest at the top of the circle with the words left hand etched into the brass. A quarter turn down the circular face, another large post appeared with the word forehead beside it. At the bottom of the circle the post bore the words right hand and three quarters turn around the circle the last large post was carefully engraved with the words back of the head .

"There are men who would kill to hold what you're holding."

"Here." Sarah handed it over. "Have it back."

"You're safe. I promise." Mulek refused her offering. "Neither God nor I will let anything happen to you or this device. You're both far too valuable." He leaned in closer. "May I show you one of its secrets?"

The kitchen window went dark. It was getting late and Papa was likely laying Aaron inside the secret chamber where her brother slept each night against the possibility of soldiers forcing their way inside while they were sleeping, the most dreaded of whom was Daniel—her own flesh and blood. "I can't endure anymore secrets."

"Where is the red haired girl I once knew with a sense of adventure?"

"I like to know where the adventure is taking me first."

"You fear the uncertainty."

"I want to understand it."

"If you know a secret, then it isn't a secret anymore." Mulek stood beside her, set his chin on her shoulder, his warm hands pressing her hands against the cold metal sphere as he slowly turned the brass ball. "See how the free floating spindle maintains the same direction no matter how we turn the device."

"I don't want to know anymore." She could feel the seriousness of his words against her ear. "I don't want more unwelcome attention to come to me or my family."

"Please, Sarah. Hear me out."

"Why me?"

"You're the only one I trust."

"What about Miriam? I trust your mother with my life."

"You're the one God trusts with this." Mulek kept turning the ball until the free floating spindle lined up with the largest brass post at the top of the circle where the words left hand were written. "See there. That's how you set the device, with the spindle aligned with the left hand."

"Left hand? What do you mean? Why the left hand?"

"You're curious?"

"I want to know what it means."

"Raise your left hand the same direction as the spindle."

"How has that anything to do with easing my fear over—?"

"Trust me."

Sarah held the brass ball with her right hand and raised her left hand in perfect alignment.

Mulek said, "What does left hand mean?"

"It hasn't a meaning. It's an appendage with a wrist, a palm, and these." Sarah wiggled her fingers and waited for Mulek to respond with another question, or more of his sage commentary, or at least a slight laugh to acknowledge her humor. When he didn't she said, "What else am I to answer?"

"What do you think of when you reach a fork in the path and you choose the left hand way?"

"That's a superstitious question."

"What do you think of?"

"I suppose you mean unlucky. Cursed."

"Anything else?"

Sarah forced her eyes open ghoulish wide and whispered, "The dark unknown."

"You're far too much like your sister, Elizabeth. You think too deeply."

"Would you prefer I think shallow thoughts?"

"Left hand means north."

"I knew that."

Sarah handed the brass device back to Mulek, but he refused it again and said, "We're not finished."

Did he mean not finished showing her the device or not finished forcing her to stand in the most discomfited of positions with her left hand raised to the great north star? Mulek reached his fingers into the ball, unlatched the fixed spindle, moved it down a quarter turn to the word forehead and fixed it in place. "See there. The free spindle points toward the left hand and the fixed spindle points the direction you're facing."

"That would be east." Sarah let him take the device and without him asking, she raised her right hand while he moved the fixed spindle to the bottom of the circle and latched it to the post bearing the words right hand.

Sara said, "That's south."

"And this is west." Mulek moved the fixed spindle to the last position next to the inscription back of the head.

It was an awkward way to stand with her left hand pointing north, her right hand pointing south, the back of her head aligned with the setting moon and her face squared to where the sun would rise come morning, but as long as she had the attention of the Prince of Judah, it was an inelegance she would endure.

"This is how the Jews have found their way for thousands of years."

"Then we're finished?"

"Not entirely." Mulek walked a slow circle around Sarah. "When an Egyptian takes his bearings he faces upstream on the Nile and calls the southerly direction forehead."

"That would change the right hand in Egyptian to west." Sarah nodded with her hands still raised. "Back of the head would become north and right hand would become east. I understand."

"Every nation, except the Jews, employs the Egyptian way. The Phoenicians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Assyrians." Mulek held up the brass ball. "That's why Linius never entirely understood it."

"Linius?"

"The Captain of the Amhporas was Phoenician. He taught me everything he knew of the sea, but the device is a Hebrew instrument, passed down for centuries through the hands of Noah and to men of the Orient before came to Linius. He never would have figured it out if he didn't come to trust me, a Hebrew, and allow me to decipher his navigational charts. The entire world was off by a quarter turn." Mulek came around in front of Sarah and stopped circling. "When we Jews chart directions we begin by standing with our back to the Great Sea." He stepped in next to her and they stood shoulder to shoulder with Sarah's right elbow passing below his chin. "That's how it's been for thousands of years in our lands—turn your back to the Great Sea and every other direction falls into place. All the holy writings of every prophet begin with back-of-the-head westerly directions, then it was a simple matter for them to write about right-hand southerly directions, forbidden and cursed left-hand northerly directions, and forehead easterly directions. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, all of them recorded their directions precisely as we're standing now with our backs to the Great Sea."

Sarah slowly lowered her arms and when Mulek didn't tell her to stop she broke her stance and stepped around in front of him. His sun-bleached hair and wind burned lips spoke of years sailing the Great Sea. "The device, what do you call it?"

"It hasn't a name beyond calling it 'Ona—direction."

"Ona?" Sarah repeated the Hebrew word, each time more slowly than the first. "Direction. I like it. It's a fine name. Entirely sensible."

"It isn't only a device for direction. It's useless without a gift from God."

Sarah took the brass ball. "Isn't this gift enough?"

"The gift is when the Lord reveals the charted course to your heart and your mind, in dreams and thoughts, in moments of quiet and moments when the sea threatens to swallow your vessel whole." Mulek rested his hand on the brass ball. "This is where heaven and earth meet. Without God the way can't be charted and without this director the storms are sure to steer you off your course."

"Don't we all have a gift from God for charting our course? A still small voice?" Sarah laid her hand on his hand. "Call it L-iah, then."

"The Lord?"

"No, no. Put them together."

"L-iah…" Mulek paused and in his best Hebrew slowly said, "L-iah-ona?"

"That's a much better name. Liahona. The direction of the Lord."

"Take it." Mulek returned the brass ball to the cedar box and set it in her hands. "Keep it safe."

"What if something happens?"

"You'll know what to do."

"And if I fail you?"

"L-iah-ona." Mulek pressed Sarah's hands against the cedar box. "You'll not fail if you follow the direction of the Lord."

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