Archaic “of whom hath been spoken”

An uncommon, nonbiblical phrase.

The phrase “of whom hath been spoken” occurs once in the Book of Mormon:

3n2614
And it came to pass that he did teach and minister unto the children of the multitude, of whom hath been spoken, and he did loose their tongues.

This referential phrase is equivalent to “who have been previously mentioned,” and there is no grammatical subject before the verb hath. Usage in the past, which was very uncommon, varied between the presence and absence of an it. The object pronoun whom is part of a prepositional phrase and refers back to the children of the multitude. So whom is plural, although it does not show that, since this pronoun does not have a distinct plural form.

If we limit the usage to examples where hath does not have an overt grammatical subject, there are currently seven original instances of “of whom hath been spoken” known. They were first published between 1550 and 1685. Some of them were reprinted later as well.

1550, EEBO A13758, [333]
purchased to cause hym to be adiournedde or somoned in Sycile, togiders w^t the other, of whome hathe bene spokene,

1583, EEBO A18098, [83]
seruing their owne turnes with all practises and cheuisaun[c]es, to get and gather golde and siluer, more then all they of whom hath bin spoken heretofore:

1596, EEBO A05184, 257
At that time Ariamnites Comminat (of whom hath beene before spoken) did excell all the Princes and Lords of Epire,

c 1600, Google Books, 33 • Google Books, 439
The book lying in her window, her maid (of whom hath been spoken) took it up,

1649, EEBO B25979, 46 • 1684, EEBO A48431, 917
the most of these Heads no doubt were of the great Sanhedrim, and though in the affairs of the Temple the Sagan, Katholikin, Immercalin and Gizbarin, of whom hath been spoken already, were above them;

1657, EEBO A28496, 152 • 1726, ecco|dgjùð, 87
in the same hill where the Iron-mine was of Mr. Christopher Wandsworth, of whom hath been spoken above.

1685, EEBO A55368, [255 note q]
This is he, who accompanied the Prophet, as his Guide all along, and of whom already hath been spoken in several notes.

This phrase is not found in the 1611 King James Bible or in the writings of generally well-known authors.

The phrase “of whom hath been spoken” is minimally different from “of which «have» been spoken,” which occurs in the Book of Mormon seven times («have» = have, hath, has). If we limit cases to those without intervening adverbs, there are hardly any texts with two of these. At this point, two texts have been identified: 1630, EEBO A01972 and 1664, EEBO A90749.

The highlighted phrase “did teach and minister” (non-emphatic) is also an old phrase. This is the one example found so far outside of the Book of Mormon:

1590, EEBO A10609, 207
P. Martyr saith, there were two sorts of Elders: the one which did teach and minister the Sacraments, and did gouerne with the Bishops:

Here are three earlier examples that are similar to the highlighted phrase “did loose their tongues”:

1600, EEBO A13159, 223
to restraine such turbulent spirits . . which . . do loose their tongues with ouermuch liberty

1618, EEBO A02528, 346
Neither did Zachary loose his tongue for the time, but his eares also,

1650, EEBO A31383, 147²
The Wine, the good Chear, and heat, did let loose their tongues to merryment,

The example dated 1600 is only different from “did loose their tongues” in tense.

The above linguistic elements make this portion of 3n2614 early modern in character, rather than nineteenth-century in style.

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