Webster's on "Provo"

Introduction

Through a series of experiences in my life, I have come to see that the words of language are far more powerful and meaningful than I had hitherto imagined. In the past year, I have been repeatedly awestruck as I have looked up a particular word, either in English dictionaries or Hebrew or Greek Old and New Testament Lexicons⁽¹⁾, then looked at the words listed alphabetically before and after for additional insight beyond the definition given for that word alone. This phenomenon is not just due to words having common root origins, for it holds true regardless of the roots -- something especially apparent and uncanny in the English. The more important the word, or the proper noun, if it be a person or place, the more obvious this phenomenon becomes.

The word/name, "Provo," is a simple but poignant example which illustrates this phenomenon while also further proving the theme.

In order to see the flow and cohesiveness of ideas you may find it helpful to first read through the words (in bold) and their definitions⁽²⁾, and then come back and read the editorial comments (indicated in [brackets]). See if these words as a set do not indeed reflect specifically on Provo as well as tell a prophetic story about her and her people in general, which she epitomizes as the heart of that culture, as the young blood of the Church courses through Brigham Young University and the Missionary Training Center and then into all the world.

This role of being set as a light to the world is further validated metaphorically in that with Provo's annexation of Sundance she became the highest city in the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hid.  How is she doing?

  The word study

Quoting from Webster's 1971 except where indicated:

proud: Possessing a high and often an unreasonable opinion of one's own excellence; filled with or showing inordinate self-esteem.

["Beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old."  (D&C 38:39)  "Behold, the pride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction except they should repent."  (Moroni 8:27.)]

prove: To test; to make trial of.

[(1) "There will be a test, a Test, a TEST; and who shall be able to stand?" (Heber C. Kimball.) (2) "Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; ...and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him. (2 Nephi 11:4.)]

provenance: Source or place of origin

[of Mormon culture].

provender: Provisions; food

[characteristic: 1-year food storage emphasis].

proverb: A short pithy sentence expressing a truth ascertained by experience or observation; a reproach or object of contempt.

[In this context of words surrounding "Provo," we see an example of a modern proverb which has been under construction since Babel, as these disparate languages now come together to tell a story about this great and marvelous day in which the pure tongue of Adam will be restored.]

provide: To prepare. -- v.i. To make provision; to take measures beforehand.

[As Saints, or the Lord's husbandmen, we have been commissioned to prepare for the second coming of the Lord.]

provided: On condition.

[(1) "When men are called into mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men." (D&C 101:39.)  (2) "And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them." (Ether 2:9.)]

providence: Foresight; timely care or preparation; divine superintendence

[Divine providence has smiled very favorably on these valleys, the "fat valleys."  (Isa. 28:1,4).   "...Unto the pouring out of the Holy Ghost through me upon the Gentiles, which blessing upon the Gentiles shall make them mighty above all." (3 Ne. 20:27.)  See also Alma 9:18-24 "after having been given so much light and knowledge...."]

province: A territory [Utah Valley] at some distance from the metropolis [Salt Lake City].

provision: The act of making previous preparation.

["The people of the Lord are they who wait for him; for they still wait for the coming of the Messiah." (2 Ne. 6:13.)]

provisional: temporarily established.

["And if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them. And if it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation. (3 Nephi 26:9,10.)]

proviso: A conditional stipulation.

["At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts..., I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them. But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel." (3 Ne. 16:10,13.)]

  Provo

provoke: To challenge; to summon; to stimulate to action; to induce by motive; to call forth.

["The LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear." (Jer. 25:4.)]

["Thou son of man [the prophet], the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses [e.g. when the BYU student body booed Elder Ezra Taft Benson in an assembly during the Vietnam war], and [in the same breath] speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD ["Hey, guys, let's go to conference and hear the words of our living prophet!"].   And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people [BYU's Marriott Center; Salt Lake Tabernacle], and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love [pride in having a true and living prophet, which distinguishes them from all other religions on earth], but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.   And when this [destruction] cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them." [oops] (Ezekiel 33:30-33.)]

provoking: Vexatious; exasperating.

["And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them." (3 Ne. 21:21.)   "The sword of my justice shall hang over them at that day; and except they repent it shall fall upon them, saith the Father." (3 Ne. 20:20.)]

provocation, the⁽⁵⁾: Bib. The time of the Jews' sojourn in the wilderness when they provoked God. Ps. xcv.8.

["They hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory." (DC 84:24.)]

provost: A university official directing education activities [BYU].

prow: The forepart of a ship.

[The leadership cultivation and training for the Church.]

prowess: Bravery; valor.

[Notwithstanding the salt having lost its savor generally, Provo has produced and will yet produce some of the finest disciples of Christ on earth -- in spite of, if not because of, the persecution received for being such.]

proximate: Nearest; next. -- Proximate cause, that which immediately precedes and produces the effect.

[The day of reckoning is at hand.]

proxy: The agency of a person who acts as a substitute [Provo temple proxy work volume exceeds all other temples]; authority to act for another [priesthood]; a writing by which one person authorizes another to vote in his place [Provo has been said (though not a certainty) to be the conservative capital of Utah, and of the U.S.A.].

prude: A person, particularly a woman, affecting great reserve and excessive virtue or delicacy of feeling [Molly Mormon capital], or who pretends to great propriety of conduct.

[Happy valley Mormons are famous for their hypocrisy.]

prudent: Frugal; economical.

[DESERET:  Industrious honey bee -- BYU and State logo.]

pruinose: Hoary.

[Elderly leadership of church.  Some (inappropriately) accuse us of "gerantocracy."]

prune: To lop or cut off, as the superfluous branches of trees.

[(1) "Those who do not hear the word of the Lord shall be cut off from among he people."  (e.g. 1 Ne. 22:20; 3 Ne. 20:23; 21:11; D&C 1:14; JS-H 1:40.)  (1) "I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set [lop] it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree." (Ezk. 17:22-24.)]

Endnotes

1. Lexicons are alphabetical listings of the words used in the Bible. For the Old Testament Hebrew, I have been using Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament (Baker Books, 1979). For the New Testament, I have been using Spiros Zodhiates' Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (AMG Publishers, 1992).

2. Except where noted, the word definitions come from The New Webster Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English Language (Consolidated Book Publishers, Chicago, 1971).

5. Webster's New International Dictionary, 2nd Ed., Unabridged; 1959.

by Sterling D. Allan; Fountain Green, Utah; March 26, 1997

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