Our Motto: Mormon Means More Good
Dear Gramps,
i want to know the meaning of the word mormon.the origin and if there is prove to that.i am a missionary serving in the ghana accra mission,i was ask n could not answer so please help me out.thank you.
Clemet
Dear Clemet,
The word Mormon has come to mean “more good” within the Church, but evidently this is not based on either Greek or Latin as indicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley.
The following statement was published in the Times and Seasons May 1843 (T&S 12:194) and credited to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
It has been stated that this word [mormon] 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…. [The] Bible in its widest sense, means good; for the Savior says according to the gospel of John, “I am the good shepherd;” and it will not be beyond the common use of terms, to say that good is among the most important in use, and though known by various names in different languages, still its meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to “bad.” We say from the Saxon, “good”; the Dane, “god”; the Goth, “goda”; the German, “gut”; 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 “mor-mon”; which means, literally, “more good.”
Official LDS historian B. H. Roberts removed the quote from his History of the Church compilation, saying he found evidence that W. W. Phelps wrote that paragraph and that it was “based on inaccurate premises and was offensively pedantic.“(inappropiate display of learning)
In his October 1990 conference talk, President Hinckley stated that the “more good” translation is incorrect. He told the following story: “More than fifty years ago, when I was a missionary in England, I said to one of my associates, ‘How can we get people, including our own members, to speak of the Church by its proper name?’ He replied, “You can’t. The word Mormon is too deeply ingrained and too easy to say.” He went on, “I’ve quit trying. While I’m thankful for the privilege of being a follower of Jesus Christ and a member of the Church which bears His name, I am not ashamed of the nickname Mormon.” “Look,” he went on to say, “if there is any name that is totally honorable in its derivation, it is the name Mormon. And so, when someone asks me about it and what it means, I quietly say—‘Mormon means more good.’ ” Mormon means ‘more good’” is a positive motto for members of the LDS Church..His statement intrigued me—Mormon means “more good.” I knew, of course, that “more good” was not a derivative of the word Mormon. I had studied both Latin and Greek, and I knew that English is derived in some measure from those two languages and that the words more good are not a cognate of the word Mormon. But his was a positive attitude based on an interesting perception. And, as we all know, our lives are guided in large measure by our perceptions. Ever since, when I have seen the word Mormon used in the media to describe us—in a newspaper or a magazine or book or whatever—there flashes into my mind his statement, which has become my motto: Mormon means “more good.”
Gramps
The Question has not been answered. What does the word MORMON mean exactly? Pres. Hinckley said Mormon DOES NOT actually mean ‘More Good’ but he was quite happy to still use that explanation anyway!! Does that mean that nobody actually knows what it means? Joseph Smith said it was a combination of The English word More and the reformed Egyptian word Mon allegedly meaning good.. so the word means More-good. President Hinckley acknowledged that Linguists conclude that Mormon could not and does not mean ‘More Good’. Therefore what are we left with?? Joseph Smith was mistaken? Joseph Smith was a liar or a fraud? This is a bit like his false ‘translation’ of the Book of Abraham I think. I think it is more likely that Joseph Smith or a conspirator in writing the book of Mormon came across the word Mormo (the greek demon or king of the ghouls) and thought that would be an interesting name if you added an n to the end. One other less likely alternative is that it has to do with the French word for a bird called Mormon of the puffin family I think. Is there no end to the amount of lying and deception that Joseph Smith engaged in??
I responded to your *ahem* “friend” who commented below:
http://scripturalmormonism.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-meaning-of-mormon-responding-to.html
Hotep Family,
As many of you are questioning the validity of and definition or origin of the word Mormon, it has posed a striking sense to my inquisitive nature. Be it at all like many other wordsmithing I have found, maybe I can shed some light on this word.
For those who are not familiar with Freemasonry, it is the illusive word smithing that baffles those who are “cows” in the herd and “sleep sheep” of the flock”. For instance, Daniel Webster was a Grand Master Mason sent to America to create the dictionary. It’s intent and purpose was to bend the use of words from many sources into the words we use today. Many people do not read enough to get to the etymological source of a word nevertheless looking it up with the following codex key:
1) Historical Context – when did it fist appear
2) Etymological – where did it come from
3) Biblical – to what people does it refer to
Taking this into consideration as some have noted. Let’s look at Elisa Cooper’s translation in the historical: Free Mason. She posts back to the German as Freimaure. Now the etymology: frei meaning free and maure noting a Moor or Mor for short. Many wordsmiths codex by shorting or moving letters around. Another instance from the Bible. Sword most times means the use of ‘words’. The English we mostly speak is a form of Latin/Germainc dialect. So take ‘mon’ in Middle English or Scots and you get ‘man’. Moors were known navigators of the seven seas. Captains of vessels (mormon). This word has been buried amongst many academia scholars because unravels the mystery of history.
If the golden tablet story is true and he spiritually decoded its meanings. Then it would be safe to say the would be ancient Hebrew script would belong to a kindred group of Kushite/MRS as depicted by EA Wallis Budge from the Book of Coming Forth by Day… The ancients did not use vowels, so an Egyptian(namely Greek) would use the the same system. So Budge would find the Owl to represent MR also sending for captain along with the multi-tiered wave pattern symbolizing power and water.
This hodge postage of Masonic coding can easily be interpreted once you use kabbalistic teachings left by the Moors which in turn was taught to Eiropeans by the Moors themselves. These Europeans later became known as Jews. Do the research yourself. Keep redoing as many books as possible before they correct their mistakes. Much information is going out of circulation or out of print.
I hope this has helped. p.s. John Smith was a mason. This has more to it than what has been stated. Hotep!