Avesta people. The term "Avesta" is from the 9th/10th-century works of Zoroastrian tradition in which the word appears as Zoroastrian Middle Persian "abestāg", Book Pahlavi "ʾp(y)stʾkʼ". In that context, "abestāg" texts are portrayed as received knowledge, and are distinguished from the exegetical commentaries (the "zand") thereof. The literal meaning of the word "abestāg" is uncertain; it is generally acknowledged to be a learned borrowing from Avestan, but none of the suggested etymologies have been universally accepted. The widely repeated derivation from *"upa-stavaka" is from Christian Bartholomae ("Altiranisches Wörterbuch", 1904), who interpreted "abestāg" as a contraction of a hypothetical reconstructed Old Iranian
Lineage of Alma the Younger Mormon's abridgment of his writings. In 321, he hid all the Nephites' sacred writings in the Hill Shim in the Land of Antum. He later instructed the ten-year-old future prophet Mormon to wait until he was 24 and then take the Plates of Nephi from the hill (leaving the other writings hidden) and continue the record. According to the Book of Mormon, Amos was a Nephite record keeper. His father was Amos, and his grandfather was Nephi the Disciple. Mormon is thought to have abridged his record which consists of 26 verses in the Book of 4th Nephi. Amos must