Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Volume 3 Number 1 Article 2 1-31-1994 What's in a Name? Book of Mormon Language, Names, and [Metonymic] Naming Gordon C. Thomasson Broome Community College, in Binghampton, New York Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Thomasson, Gordon C. (1994) "What's in a Name? Book of Mormon Language, Names, and [Metonymic] Naming," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 3 : No. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol3/iss1/2 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Title What’s in a Name? Book of Mormon Language, Names, and [Metonymic] Naming Author(s) Gordon C. Thomasson Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 3/1 (1994): 1–27. ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online) Abstract Anthropological perspectives lend insight on names and on the social and literary function of names in principle and in the Book of Mormon. A discussion of the general function of names in kinship; secret names; and names, ritual, and rites of passage precedes a Latter-day Saint perspective. Names and metonymy are used symbolically. Examples include biblical and Book of Mormon metonymic naming, nomenclature, and taxonomy. Biblical laws of purity form the foun- dation for a pattern of metonymic associations with the name Lamanite, where the dichotomy of clean/ unclean is used to give name to social alienation and pollution.