MULOKI

Lehite PN

1.

Missionary to Lamanites from Zarahemla, ca. 90 BC (Alma 20:2; 21:11)

Ariel Crowley appears to have been the first scholar to suggest that Muloki is related to Mulek and that both derive from the Hebrew word mlk, “to rule, king” (“The Escape of Mulek,” Improvement Era, May 1955, p. 326, fn. 4). If all the vowels matched, it would be tempting to see this name as a gentilic of Mulek, but they do not. Promising is the biblical PN mlwky in the Ketiv, but the Qoreh is mlykw (Nehemiah 12:14).

Another biblical PN, Malluch, is similar to Muloki. Perhaps it is best to assume the u to be a *shwa and the i as a hypocoristic ending, so that the name would originally have meant something like “rule of DN” or “counsel of DN” or even “DN rules” (JH).

Cf. Book of Mormon MULEK, AMULEK, MELEK, AMALEKI, AMALICKIAH, AMLICI.