Mormon

See also: mormon, mormón, mórmon, and Mórmon

English

Etymology

Believers are called Mormons after the Book of Mormon (and have been since the 1830s),[1] which takes its name from the prophet whom they believe compiled it and/or the Waters of Mormon mentioned in it.[2] Various implausible etymologies have been proposed, usually in attempts to discredit or defend the Mormon faith.[3]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Mormon

  1. The supposed ancient American prophet of Mormon theology whom Mormons believe compiled the Book of Mormon.

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Noun

Mormon (plural Mormons)

  1. (originally derogatory, sometimes proscribed) A person who believes in the Mormon religion, which worships Elohim, views Joseph Smith as his prophet and has the Bible and the Book of Mormon as its main scriptures.
    Synonyms: Latter-day Saint, LDS

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Adjective

Mormon (not comparable)

  1. (sometimes proscribed) Of, or pertaining to, the faith established by Joseph Smith, Jr.

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References
  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. See Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture, volume 13 (2015, →ISBN. The most prominent pro-Mormon etymology is the one, suggested in an 1834 Times and Seasons letter, that the term derives from English more + a supposed 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(j) (“to 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".
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