Mormon
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /ˈmÉ”ËmÉ™n/
- GenAm IPA: /ˈmɔɹmən/
- Rhymes: -É”Ë(ɹ)mÉ™n
Origin
Believers are called Mormons after the Book of Mormon (and have been since the 1830s),
An early use is in the title of the 1839 Facts Relative to the Expulsion of the Mormons, Or Latter Day Saints, from the State of Missouri.
which takes its name from the prophet who they believe compiled it and/or the Waters of Mormon mentioned in it.
Within the Book of Mormon, the waters are said by the book to have been named by "the king" (taken in context to be King Noah).
Various implausible etymologies have been proposed, usually in attempts to discredit or defend the Mormon faith.
See Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, volume 13 (2015, ISBN 1508514119). The most prominent pro-Mormon etymology is the one, suggested in an 1834 Times and Seasons letter, that the term derives from English more + Egyptian (mon, "good"), which, however, modern scholarship considers figurative at best — see Paul Y. Hoskisson, What's in a Name? Mormon part 1 (Insights 32/2, 2012) and part 2 (Insights 32/3, 2012). Matthew Bowen suggested that the name derives from Egyptian mr(i) ("love, desire"). Anti-Mormon etymologies are also implausible. Eber D. Howe suggested in 1834 that "The English word Mormon ... is the English termination of the Greek word, "Mormoo," which we find defined in an old obsolete Dictionary "bug-bear, hob-goblin, raw head, and bloody bones"; Hoskisson writes that "almost any knowledgeable reader, even in 1834, would have recognized that this definition is not only fabricated but downright silly." An anonymous editorialist wrote in 1841 that "In the reformed Egyptian tongue, ... Mormon is a writer of wicked, absurd, fictitious nonsense, for evil purposes, to make sorcerors", which the Interpreter calls "laughable".
Full definition of Mormon
Proper noun
Mormon
(plural Mormons)- The ancient American prophet of Mormon theology who Mormons believe compiled the Book of Mormon.
Derived terms
Noun
Mormon
(plural Mormons)- (originally derogatory) A person who views Joseph Smith, Jr. as a prophet, and considers the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price to be holy.
- Grey Riders|1That year, 1871, had marked a change which had been gradually coming in the lives of the peace-loving Mormons of the border.