MORONI

Lehite PN	1.	General, died ca. 46 BC (Alma 43:16; 63:3)
	2.	Last Nephite, son of MORMON No.5 (Words of Mormon 1:1; Moroni 10:1), probably named after MORONI No. 1, who is highly praised by Mormon (Alma 48:17)
Lehite GN	3.	City and land, probably named after No. 1 (Alma 50:13; 3 Nephi 9:4)

Moron could come from the West Semitic root mrʾ, “lord, master,” with attenuation of the aleph, as in mrn, “our lord,” in Hatrean texts (DNWSI 684).

It is possible that this is the gentilic of the Jaredite GN Moron (see immediately above) (JAT). Nibley also pointed out the connection, giving the meaning “belonging to Moron” or “of Moron” to the name Moroni (LID, 245). Also possible is Egyptian mrny, “my beloved” or mr.n.i, “I was beloved” (RFS).

Alma 50:32 has an interesting turn of phrase, “the people who were in the land Bountiful, or rather Moroni, feared that they would hearken to the words of Morianton and unite with his people.” The phrase seems to be saying, “Moroni feared that the people who were in the land Bountiful would hearken to the words of Morianton and unite with his people.” If this is the correct interpretation, then there must be something similar on the plates between “Moroni” and “Bountiful” for Joseph to have made the correction. One Hebrew word for “Bountiful” is mlʾ, which when transposed into Egyptian script (which does not distinguish between r and l), might yield “mār’āni.

Less likely is a hypocoristicon “(my) lord,” from Aramaic marōn, “lord,” plus the 1c.s. possessive suffix or hypocoristic ending (JH). Even less likely is a derivation from Mishnaic Hebrew marōn, “rebellion” (JH). There is a place-name bêtamrôn from the root mrh (the i ending would be an adjectival, gentilic form, “the one of”); however, in view of the name Moronihah, however, this translation is less likely (JH). See also the suggestions for Moron.

Cf. Book of Mormon MORONIHAH, AMMARON, AMARON, AMMORON, AMORON.