Posted by:
snowowl
(
)
Date: September 09, 2012 10:37PM
You mean you never read Joseph Smith's explanation of the meaning of Mormon? Wellll, allow the expert in the Reformed Egyptian language to enlighten you.
Here it is:
""To the Editor of the Times and Seasons.
Sir: Through the medium of your paper, I wish to correct an error among men that profess to be learned, liberal and wise; and I do it the more cheerfully, because I hope sober-thinking and sound-reasoning people will sooner listen to the voice of truth, than be led astray by the vain pretentions [pretensions] of the self-wise. The error I speak of, is the definition of the
word "Mormon." 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. Let the language of that book speak for itself. In the 523d page, of the fourth edition, it reads: "And now behold we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the Reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech; and if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew: but the Hebrew hath been altered by us, also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold ye would have had no imperfection in our record, but the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also, that none other people knoweth our language; therefore he that prepared means for the interpretation thereof."
Here then the subject is put to silence, for "none other people knoweth our language," therefore the Lord, and not man, had to interpret, after the people were all dead. And, as Paul said, "the world by wisdom know not God," so the world by speculation are destitute of revelation; and as God in his superior wisdom, has always given his saints, wherever he had any on the earth, the same spirit, and that spirit, is John says, is the true spirit of prophesy, which is the testimony of Jesus, I may safely say that the word Mormon stands independent
of the learning and wisdom of this generation.-Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say that 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, of the
contraction, mor, we have the word Mormon; which means, literally, more good.
Yours, Joseph Smith.""
--- Joseph Smith, 'Times and Seasons,' vol. 4. no. 13, May 15, 1843, pg. 194
Joseph Smith asserted in his letter that he had an understanding of the Egyptian (Reformed Egyptian) language from which he said the Book of Mormon was translated by which he claimed justification for the definition of the word "Mormon" that he presented. Using the standard tactic of claiming ignorance on the part of others, but special knowledge on the part of himself, he presented a convoluted and unbelievable definition of the term based only on his own words, without any validation by use of examples from the golden plates or use of the golden plates themselves, which had disappeared and conveniently been removed from the ability of any person of education to examine them. His basic premise was that the word Mormon consists of the union of two words: MOR and MON. The word MON is said to be an Egyptian word meaning GOOD. The word MOR is said to be a contraction of the English word MORE, the contraction being formed by removing the ending E. Placed together, the word MORMON is formed, meaning MORE GOOD. The problem is obvious, because the word MORE (MOR) is a Middle English word derived from the Old English word, MARA. So, Joseph Smith claimed that the Middle English word MORE was combined with the Reformed Egyptian word MON in circa. 330 A.D. to form the word MORMON. Since Old English did not come into existence until circa. 400 A.D. (MARA) and Middle English did not come into existence until circa. 1100 A.D. (MORE), the use of the word MORE (MOR) in the Book of Mormon would have been impossible, since the word MORE (MOR) did not come into existence until approximately 770 years after the Nephite prophet Mormon is said to have existed.