The French Book of Mormon: Written for Our Time

A reader of this blog who goes by the name of “brotheroflogan” reminds me of an interesting fact:

Dan, I thought you’d be interested to know what I found out. I was reading my French Book of Mormon and the word that they used to describe Amalickiah’s “deception” is tromperie, from the verb tromper, which means “to deceive” or “to hoodwink.”

I’m reminded of the artistic term tromp l’oeil (French: literally, “deceive the eye”): “visual illusion in art, especially as used to trick the eye into perceiving a painted detail as a three-dimensional object.”

And I also remember the seldom-used English noun trumpery, which means “attractive articles of little value or use” and, as an adjective, “showy but worthless.”  “Practices or beliefs that are superficially or visually appealing,” say the Oxford dictionaries, “but have little real value or worth.”  I think that the word needs to be dusted off and brought out of semi-retirement.