Abstract

Anthropological perspectives are presented on names, and on the social and literary function of names, in principle and in the Book of Mormon. The function of names in kinship; secret names; and names, ritual, and rites of passage are first discussed in general and then from a Latter-day Saint perspective. The symbolic use of names and metonymy or metonymie naming are then discussed. Examples are given of biblical and Book of Mormon metonymie naming, nomenclature, and taxonomy. Finally, it is suggested that biblical laws of purity form the foundation for a pattern of metonymie associations with the name Lamanite, where the dichotomy of clean/unclean is used to give name to social alienation and pollution.

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