In many tongues, "Mormo" is like a devil.

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/Mormo?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744%3Av0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=Mormo&sa=Search#922
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http://www.thenigerianvoice.com/nvmovie/22530/3/nigeria-mass-media-the-fourth-estate-of-graft.html

Accepting brown envelopes [bribes] is a mere part of the trade for the Nigerian journalist.

The Nigerian journalist remains an indictable part of the Nigerian problem begging for an urgent solution. They worship money and would rather prefer to serve on the altar of Mormon. Gone is the old breed that gave birth to eponyms like “Aiyekoto”, “John West” and so on. Now is the era of the greedy and hungry, the glorification of the flotsams and jetsam's of the profession, amply encouraged and sustained by unscrupulous and corrupt Nigerians. It is indeed a field day for corruption.
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http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705325941/Violence-forces-closure-of-LDS-Nigeria-temple.html

Religious violence from witchcraft believers?
Did people report the weird ceremonies, inciting violence?

http://www.iheu.org/child-rights-and-witchcraft-nigeria

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http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/names/infernal.htm
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78.--Body Decorations of Melville and Bathurst Islanders during the Performance of Ceremonies 432

79.--A Bark Drawing of a Mormo called Ingwalin. Kakadu Tribe 433
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/spencer/baldwin/s74na/images/fig079.jpg

80.--Bark Drawings of two Mormo or Debil-debils. Kakadu Tribe 434
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/spencer/baldwin/s74na/images/fig080.jpg


81.--Bark Drawing of a Mormo. Geimbo Tribe 433
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/spencer/baldwin/s74na/images/fig081.jpg

82.--Bark Drawing of a Mormo called Yerobeiri. Kakadu Tribe Between pp. 436-7
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/spencer/baldwin/s74na/images/fig082.jpg

83.--Bark Drawing of a Mormo called Warraguk. Kakadu Tribe 436-7
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/spencer/baldwin/s74na/images/fig083.jpg

http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&tbs=isch:1&sa=X&ei=fWKYTaukKNCTtweSx6z6Cw&ved=0CGIQvgUoAA&q=Bark+Drawings+Debil-devils+mormo&nfpr=1


http://www.message4mormons.org.uk/definitionofmormon.pdf


http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/Mormons/00000024.htm
It was discovered very soon after the organization of the Mormon church was announced that the word was of Greek derivation, uopuw or uopuwv <Greek> meaning bugbear, hobgoblin. In the form of "mormo" it is Anglicized with the same meaning, and is used by Jeremy Collier and Warburton.* The word "Mormon" in zoology is the generic name of certain animals, including the mandril baboon.

The discovery of the Greek origin and meaning of the word was not pleasing to the early Mormon leaders, and they printed in the Times and Seasons a letter over Smith's signature, in which he solemnly declared that "there was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of Mormon,"



Use the word "Mormon" whenever possible.

I wonder where J. Smith came up with the name Mormon.

He was a treasure seeker.

See D.Michael Quinn Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview

You'd be surprised at how many conguring names appear in the BoM.
Maron was also called Maroni, later moroni.
Alma is the spanish word for soul.

There's a ton of them.

And of course, those gold plates were originally a key to securing treasure before they were religious.

That Mormon is so close to moron is just a bit of good luck. Maybe a Freudian slip (or other piece of lingerie) by horny Joe?

The wife of the gay mormon guy was talking with his mother (Meryl Streep) in a visiting center.

She started wondering about the name of the angel, it wasn't Mormon, it was Moroni. Then why are we called mormons, shouldn't we be called 'MORONS'?

That was a memorable line in an otherwise pretty confusing tv series.

Actually, Mormon is the name of a butterfly, or several close species of butterfly. Here is a photo of one of them: http://www.hickerphoto.com/scarlet-mormon-butterfly-10297-pictures.htm .

I don't think Joseph Smith knew that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKIJVsv9cSM

It's about 5-10 seconds in to the video. At 3:20-3:40, they discover that the Sign of Mormo is used to keep a witch in her grave.

Scooby dooby doo!

An attempt to trademark the word Mormon was rejected as being merely descriptive. The COJCOLDS argued that it comes from an actual person, a prophet who had lived anciently in America.

This argument was presented to the federal government through the United States Patent and Trademark Office. There you have it, the mormon church tried to tell the U.S. government that the BofM is historically true.

Here is a link, the argument is on page 4.

http://tmportal.uspto.gov/external/PA_TOWUserInterface/OpenServletWindow?serialNumber=78161091&scanDate=2003102127924&DocDesc=Paper+Correspondence+Incoming&docType=IPC&currentPage=1&rowNum=22&rowCount=33&formattedDate=02-Oct-2003

Wow! They tried to trademark "Mormon"!? I doubt that even Scientology tried to trademark Xenu...

I got a "page not found" error message.

Use this link.

http://tdr.uspto.gov/search.action?sn=78161091

then scroll down to 02-Oct-2003 "Paper Correspondence Incoming". From there you can see the document including page 4.

But Mormo is a trickster witch, right?

I seemed to remember that from H.S., but it was 30+ years ago, so I went and looked it up.

Mormo = a God, one of the wives of Hecate (from ancient tales/mythology)

Alternatively, Mormo means a hobgoblin, buga boo, ghoulish or trickster spirit (from the Gaelic Irish, which itself may have come via other myths prior to that-- and most certainly something brought to the US with its many Irish immigrants)

Is it possible the name did not come to JS in a dream (or however he 'swears' it did), but rather from listening to a few drunk Irish guys telling ghost stories?

Perhaps he and his dad got it from someone in their treasure seeking cicrlce, the same place they learned how to use seer stones to find buried treasure, when they lived in NY?

I prefer to say "Kolobian". That way you can immediately call attention to the book of abraham (nice segway) and the fact that they believe they come from the star system kolob, which means they are all aliens and so is their god.

If everyone referred to Mitt Romney as a kolobian instead of mormon he wouldn't stand a chance of getting the republican nomination. just my opinion...

Ok, now that is freakin' hilarious.

I've wondered for quite a while now just where the word "Mormon" came from. Solomon Spalding had been to college and would have course learned Greek and Latin in preparation to enter the ministry. Joseph Smith had no formal education and would not know the origin of this word. Why would Spalding use the word for an evil spirit as a chief character in his novel? Had Smith heard similar sounding words ("moron", someone with the last name "Marman," etc) and decided to use it not knowing its other meaning? The frontier was sparsely populated back then and schools were few. Perhaps the "Moron" connection was an inside joke between Rigdon, Smith, & co.

MORMON
Father of Mormon, Mormon 1:5
Nephite prophet, general, record keeper, abridger, Words of Mormon 1:1
Forest near waters of Mormon, Mosiah 18:30
Region near city of Lehi-Nephi, Mosiah 18:4-7
Fountain in Land of Mormon, Mosiah 18:5

Greek word meaning: a bugbear

English word meaning: 1. The puffins, a genus of sea-birds characterized by a short, thick beak. 2. The mandrill.

Mormon is like the greater majority of Joseph Smith's "words" which are direct biblical words, words derived from biblical words, and words derived from secular sources. Only a very few can be said not to be derived from or related to other sources.

And then there is that really weird link between Nephi, Nephites (BoM) and Nephilim (found in Genesis) translated as demons or devils.

Things that make you go hmmmmm!

In relation to my above post, I did a study of possible origins of 350 names from the Book of Mormon and discovered the following:

Biblical words - 142 - 41%
Biblical roots of words - 148 - 42%
Other sources - 22 - 6%
Unknown sources - 38 - 11%

Total:
Biblical words and roots - 290 - 83%
Unknown of other sources - 60 - 17%

It would appear that Joseph Smith was not as original in the creation of new words as has been assumed by his supporters. His forte seemed to be rearranging vowels and consonants to make existing words sound different from the original but giving the appearance of a new word.

The reference Genesis 6:4 is translated "giants" in the KJV. Joseph Smith used a Phinney version of the KJV. Later translations, such as the NAS and NIV do use the word Nephilim, but of course those came long after Joseph Smith. The Hebrew roots are nephiyl, nephil, naphal and nephal, however Joseph Smith did not study Hebrew until 15 years after the translation of the Book of Mormon, so I don't think he would have been familiar with the term from the original Hebrew language in Genesis although he could possibly have read about it from other sources. He could easily have derived the name as follows:

NEPHI
Son of Lehi, prophet, founder of the Nephites, 1 Nephi 1:1
Son of Helaman, Nephite missionary, Helaman 3:21
Son of Nephi, on of the 12 Nephite disciples, 3 Nephi 1:2
Son of Nephi, 4 Nephi 1
City, chief city in the land of Nephi, Mosiah 9:15
Land, Land of Lehites' firsts inheritance - called Lehi-Nephi, 2 Nephi 5:8
Similar to Book of Mormon names NEPHIHAH, NEPHITES
Possible biblical root: from NAPHISH, Genesis 25:15, NEPHISH, 1 Chronicles 5:19
Apocryphal name: from NEPHI, 2 Macabees 1:26