There's a curious word in the very beginning of the Book of Mormon - the 7th word in our English text:
"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days." (1 Ne 1:1, emphasis added).
The adjective "goodly" is not commonly used today. Some interpretations proposed have included:
- Wealthy, possessing lots of goods - thus his parents were able to afford his education
- Righteous, committed to good - thus they were determined to pass on good teachings
- Maybe it was a scribal error when the text was recorded as Joseph Smith spoke it - could it have been "godly parents" instead? There is no historic evidence of this idea, since the text was printed and revised several times during Joseph Smith's life.
- According to Matthew Bowen, the name Nephi likely derived from a Middle Egyptian word, nfr, meaning "good, fine, goodly" (Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary of Middle Egyptian (Oxford: Griffith Institute, 1999), s.v. "nfr."). Was Nephi employing a wordplay of his own name in choosing that word to describe his parents, and repeating the emphasis with the word "goodness" attributed to God in the same verse?
The Webster's Dictionary from 1828 has this:
Being of a handsome form; beautiful; graceful; as a goodly person; goodly raiment; goodly houses.
1. Pleasant; agreeable; desirable; as goodly days.
2. Bulky; swelling; affectedly turgid.
None of those senses provide insight; Lehi's parents being nice-looking or pleasant would not have had anything to do with how they educated their sons.
The Oxford English Dictionary includes archaic senses of the word "goodly" that include more moral qualities such as virtuous, excellent, and fine. That seems more consistent with the general sense.