Etymology of the word "mormon"

[Solon]

In a letter to the editor in Times and Seasons, Volume 4, no. 13, pg. 194 (May, 1843), Joseph Smith explained it as [you might have learned this in seminary]:

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.

http://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v4n13.htm

[As an aside, Joseph Smith was addressing the common charge that "mormon" derived from the ancient Greek word Μορμώ or Μορμών, which refers to the bogey-man or some other kind of monster that frightens children.]

This folk-etymology seems fairly silly, piecing together a made-up Egyptian word [mon has no meaning in Egyptian] with an English prefix to arrive at a compound meaning.

Gordon Hinckley recognized as much in October's general conference, 1990,

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.”

We may not be able to change the nickname, but we can make it shine with added luster.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.js...____&hideNav=1

As the title of Hinckley’s talk implies, Mormon doesn’t linguistically mean “more good,” but it should. I’m cool with that. This gentle and tactful correction of Joseph Smith's teaching seems to me have gone pretty much unnoticed.

Interestingly, the LDS church’s new PR campaign directs people to mormon.org instead of lds.org. I imagine the nickname is much more recognizable than the official name, despite LDS efforts of late to promote the church’s full name in media publications.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695267255,00.html