Metonymy
Gordon Thomasson lays out some excellent arguments for metonymic naming in the Book of Mormon. I have written elsewhere regarding the punning taking place in the Book of Mormon as well as in the Bible. One possible example of metonymy is the term Mosiah. Names in scripture certainly conveyed layers of meaning, and there is evidence that in many cases, the persons named could have had their names altered after the fact. It is also evident that authors of these texts worked to emphasize how their name played into the narratives that they were working to textualize. Word play was an important method of linking the earthly realm with the world of the gods.
I found Thomasson’s paper to be noteworthy, especially as he works to associate the editing techniques used by the ancients and related this to metonymic naming. 1
Metonymy or metonymic naming involves “naming by association,” a metaphoric process of linking two concepts or persons together in such a way as to tell us more about the latter by means of what we already know about the former. For example, to call a potential scandal a “Watergate” is to suggest volumes in a single word. Similarly, if we call an individual a Judas or a Quisling, rather than giving his or her proper name, we can in one word convey an immense amount of information about how we at least feel toward that person. Names which are specific to particular castes in India have a metonymic function, linking the individual clearly to the role they are to perform in this life. In this case, these are names which the person actually bears in real life. Other names are assigned after the fact. 2
After the fact metonymic naming
For example, while David was in flight, he sought food from a man the biblical text names as Nabal. It stretches credibility to believe that a man would, as an affluent adult Israelite, carry with him the name of Mr. Fool. But that is his name, according to the text, and his actions are indeed foolish-refusing food to the anointed king and consistently successful warrior, David (1 Samuel 25:25). Nabal is, I believe, a clear example of inspired editorial, after-the-fact metonymic naming in the Old Testament. 3
The Name Zeezrom as an Example of Metonymy
Thomasson makes a strong case that Zeezrom’s name may have been an after the fact naming of this important Book of Mormon figure. He writes:
In Alma 11 we find a seeming digression from the topic of the text in the complex discussion of Nephite weights and units of measure and equivalents. Conspicuous, now, among the names of the units of value given is that of an ezrom (Alma 11 :6, 12). It is a quantity of silver. Immediately after the discussion of money we find the person who is called Zeezrom. This appears to be a compound of the word Ze, which we can translate “This is an” as a prefix, and the word ezrom. Zeezrom is distinguished by having offered 10.5 ezrom of silver to Alma and Amulek if they would deny their testimonies. Zeezrom is a lawyer of dubious repute-today we might call him a bag-man, or a “fixer”-one who offers bribes, and his name entirely fits his life before he repents (Alma 11:12). His name would translate “this is a unit of silver.” Besides linking him with his actions, the name links him into a typological complex with those who would sell their signs and tokens for money and to Judas’s selling/betraying Christ for thirty pieces of silver. If this is not metonymic naming I am anxious to learn what it might be. 4
Thomasson even gives possible reasons into why Zeezrom’s name may have been changed “after the fact”:
It is worthy of note that metonymy can be a way of changing the names to protect the innocent or the repentant, and their posterity, where the spiritual lesson to be learned is of eternal import. By comparison, this reveals the insignificance and heartlessness of the “academic” concern for secular historical “accuracy” with regard to the trivia of names and dates in Church history, especially with regard to disciplinary matters, in spite of whoever it might hurt. Metonymy makes compassion possible in narrative, and enables the writer to portray the consequences of a person’s sins while covering the individual with a mantle of charity. 5
Notes
- Gordon C. Thomasson, 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, p. 8-10.
- Ibid., p. 10-11.
- Ibid., p. 12.
- Ibid., p. 15-16.
- Ibid., p. 14