Posted by Matt Berry on June 16, 1998 at 16:51:46:
In Reply to: Meaning of the word "Mormon" posted by Noel Hausler on June 16, 1998 at 08:51:37:
Times and Seasons:
It has been stated that this word was derived from the Greek word Mormo. This is not the case. There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God, translated the book of Mormon. ... We say from the Saxon, good; the Dane, god; the Goth, goda; the German, gutK/i>; the Dutch, goed; the Latin, bonus; the greek, kalos; the Hebrew, tob; and the Egyptian, mon. hence, with the addition of More, or the contraction mor, we have the word Mormon; which means, literally, more good.
This I found in Brodie's "No Man ...." pg. 276 with the note:
"Times and Seasons, Vol. IV (May 15, 1843), p. 194 The bulk of this essay was omitted from the History of the Church. See Vol. V, p. 400"
:
: : My mission president taught us that Mor-mon is an ancient Egyptian word for "more-good."
: Joseph Smith wrote in the Times and Seasons that he rejected the comment made that the word mormon was greek. He said there was no greek on the gold plates. No mormon scholar has been able to find any evidence to support his claim. Tvendtes from FARMS argued with me that Smith may have been pulling peoples leg when he made these comments. How do we know he was? He may have been pretending he knew,or showing off. The other interesting issue is that of the Comoros Islands of which the capital is Moroni. This information was known at Smith's time. Tvendtes of course argues that no books have been located in Smith's vicinity that would have this information. Moroni appears as an Italian name in the Italian Ency. What is an Italian word doing in a supposedly hebrew book Whenever Smith says soemthing silly he is either joking or not acting in the role of a prophet.