Editing Angel Moroni (section)

==Angel's name and identity==
Initially, when talking about his receipt of the golden plates, Smith referred only to "an angel" without identifying its name. Thus, in an 1831 letter from [[Lucy Mack Smith]] to her brother, she discusses Moroni as the person who buried the plates, but does not identify him as the unnamed "holy angel" that gave Smith the means to translate the [[golden plates]].<ref>{{Harv|Morgan|1986|p=349}}.</ref> In Smith's 1832 (second hand, but officially authorized) history, he said he was visited by "an [[angel of the Lord]]", who mentioned the Book of Mormon prophet "Moroni" as the last engraver of the golden plates; however, that account did not mention whether or not the angel was referring to ''himself'' as Moroni.<ref>{{Harv|Smith|1832|p=4}}.</ref>

Smith identified the angel ''as'' Moroni in 1835, while preparing the first edition of the [[Doctrine and Covenants]], in which he indicated a number of angels who would come to the earth after the [[Second Coming]] and drink [[sacramental wine]] with himself and [[Oliver Cowdery]].<ref name = 1835dc>{{Harv|Smith|Cowdery|Rigdon|Williams|1835|p=180}}.</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2024}} Among those angels, the revelation listed "Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel; to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of [[Ephraim]]".<ref name = 1835dc/> Around this time, Cowdery was writing a history of Smith in which he identified the angel as the [[Moroni (Book of Mormon prophet)|prophet Moroni]] from the Book of Mormon.<ref>{{Harv|Cowdery|1835|p=112}}.</ref> In July 1838, Smith wrote an article for the church periodical ''[[Elders' Journal]]'', in the form of questions and answers, that stated the following:
<blockquote>Question 4th. How, and where did you obtain the book of Mormon?<p>Answer. Moroni, the person who deposited the plates, from whence the book of Mormon was translated, in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, as a resurrected being, appeared unto me, and told me where they were; and gave me directions how to obtain them.<ref>{{Harv|Smith|1838–1842|pp=42–43}}.</ref></p></blockquote>

However, on May 2, 1838, a few months before Smith's statement in ''Elders' Journal'', Smith began dictating a church history that included a more detailed account of his visits from the angel.<ref>{{Harv|Smith|1838a|p=7}}.</ref> In this text, Smith's scribe erroneously identified the angel as "[[Nephi, son of Lehi|Nephi]]", which is the name of the Book of Mormon's first narrator.<ref>{{Harv|Smith|1838a|p=5}}.</ref> Smith's 1838 identification as "Nephi" was left unchanged when the 1838 history was published in 1842 in ''[[Times and Seasons]]'', which Smith edited himself,<ref>{{Harv|Smith|1842d|p=753}}</ref> and in ''[[Millennial Star]]''.<ref>{{Harv|Pratt|Ward|1842|p=53}}.</ref> In the latter, an editorial referred to the 1823 vision and praised "the glorious ministry and message of the angel Nephi".<ref>{{Harv|Pratt|Ward|1842|p=71}}.</ref> In 1851, after Smith's death (1844), the identification as "Nephi" was repeated when [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church) published its first edition of the [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]].<ref>{{Harv|Richards|1851|p=41}}.</ref> It was also repeated in 1853 when Smith's mother [[Lucy Mack Smith]] published a history of her son.<ref>{{Harv|Smith|1853|p=79}}.</ref>

As a further complication, [[Mary Whitmer]], mother to one of the Three Witnesses and four of the [[Eight Witnesses]], said she had a vision of the golden plates, shown to her by an angel whom she always called "Brother Nephi",<ref>{{Harv|Whitmer|1888|p=621}}.</ref> but never clarified or indicated whether she believed this was the same angel that Smith and others later reported as Moroni.

Nevertheless, based on Smith's other statements that the angel was "Moroni", and based on both prior and later publications, most Latter Day Saints view Smith's 1838 identification of the angel as Nephi as a mistake on the part of the transcriber.<ref>See [[Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research|FAIR]] Wiki, [http://en.fairmormon.org/Nephi_or_Moroni "Nephi or Moroni"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080807181949/http://en.fairmormon.org/Nephi_or_Moroni |date=August 7, 2008 }}.</ref> In the version of Smith's [[History of the Church (Joseph Smith)|1838 history]] published by the LDS Church, as well as [[Joseph Smith–History|the portion]] canonized by that denomination as the [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]], the name "Nephi" has been changed by editors to read "Moroni".<ref>[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/pgp/js-h/1.33?lang=eng Joseph Smith–History 1:27] .</ref> The [[Community of Christ]] publishes the original story, including the identification of "Nephi", but indicates "Moroni" in a footnote.<ref>{{Citation |last=Harper |first=Steven C. |title=The Joseph (F.) Smith Story |date=2019-08-22 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199329472.003.0019 |work=First Vision |pages=127–140 |access-date=2023-11-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/oso/9780199329472.003.0019 |isbn=978-0-19-932947-2 }}</ref>

=== Theorized origin of the name ===
Commenting on the name of the angel Moroni, [[Grant H. Palmer]] speculates that Smith had read of the city [[Moroni, Comoros|Moroni]] on the island [[Comoros]] from either a map or tales of Captain [[William Kidd]], popular at the time.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Palmer |first1=Grant H. |date=2014 |title=Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd, Cumorah, and Moroni |url=http://www.jwha.website/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Journal_14-1.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=John Whitmer Historical Association Journal |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=50–57 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716234415/http://www.jwha.website/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Journal_14-1.pdf |archive-date=July 16, 2016 |access-date=May 24, 2017}}</ref> According to Latter-day Saint scholar [[Hugh Nibley]], the use of "mor" in the Book of Mormon is an Egyptian word, and means "beloved, good, everything nice and desirable."<ref>See [[Hugh W. Nibley]], [http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1137&index=15 Teachings of The Book of Mormon, Semester 3, Lecture 71] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311055148/http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1137&index=15|date=March 11, 2016}}</ref>