Mormon (word)
The term derives from the Book of Mormon, published in 1830 and regarded by the faith as a sacred text and supplemental testament to the Bible.
Adherents believe that the book was translated from an ancient record by Smith by the gift and power of God.
The text is said to be an ancient chronicle of a fallen and lost indigenous American nation, compiled by the prophet–historian and warrior, Mormon and his son, Moroni, the last of the Nephites.
Therefore, like the Campbellites, the term "Mormonite" was applied to the new religious movement by outsiders to distinguish it from other Christian sects.
[2] The book is believed by Latter Day Saints to be a literal record of God's dealings with pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas from approximately 2600 BC through AD 420,[3] written by prophets and followers of Jesus Christ.
[4] The LDS Church teaches that the Book of Mormon is another witness of Jesus Christ, "holy scripture comparable to the Bible".
[8] Historian Ardis Parshall quotes an 1831 news item, appearing within the first year of the LDS Church's founding, as reading, "In the sixth number of your paper I saw a notice of a sect of people called Mormonites; and thinking that a fuller history of their founder, Joseph Smith, Jr., might be interesting to your community … I will take the trouble to make a few remarks on the character of that infamous imposter.
[13] Several schisms in the Latter Day Saint movement have resulted in dozens of denominations, each with their own preferred terminology.
[17] It cited a now-obsolete AP Stylebook which stated, "The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other Latter Day Saint churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith’s death.
[21][25][24] The church followed up with a major renaming, with its websites at lds.org and mormon.org merged to a new website at churchofjesuschrist.org; the Mormon Tabernacle Choir becoming the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, and the church-affiliated publishing house Deseret Book began phasing out book titles that used the word "Mormon".
[21][13] The term Mormon also causes concern for church leaders because it has been used to include groups such as the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints who continued to practice polygamy after the Second Manifesto of 1904.
Mason said "For more than 100 years, the mainstream LDS church has gone to great pains to distance itself from those who practice polygamy.
[citation needed] The May 15, 1843, issue of the official Latter Day Saint periodical Times and Seasons contains an article, purportedly written by Joseph Smith, deriving the etymology of the name Mormon from English "more" + Egyptian mon, "good", and extolling the meaning as follows: It has been stated that this word [mormon] was derived from the Greek word mormo.
On 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 ... none other people knoweth our language; therefore [God] hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof."
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.
He had been taught about his heritage by his parents and understood the sacred significance associated with the name Mormon.
A study of the Introduction of the Book of Mormon tells us its main purpose is to restore a knowledge of the covenants to the house of Israel.
This adds weight to the understanding that the name Mormon was always associated with the place of the restoration of the covenant to the Nephites.
