Mammon

Biblical noun Personification of riches (3 Nephi 13:24)

Brief Etymology: The word MAMMON may plausibly derive from Aramaic/Hebrew roots meaning “riches, wealth.”

Extended Discussion: MAMMON, a personification of riches, may have entered the English language from Matthew 6:24 and Luke 16:13 in the New Testament, where the phrase “God and Mammon” is mentioned (cf. Luke 16:9, 11, 13). The word itself may be of Hebrew or Aramaic origin. According to Marcus Jastrow, the Hebrew word māmōn, “accumulation; wealth, value,” is from Hebrew hāmōn, “accumulation; large amount”; compare Michael Sokoloff, in his dictionary of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic, who cites mmwn’ as an Aramaic cognate; compare also Syriac māmōnā, “money, riches,” and Punic mmn, “advantage, profit, fortune.” However, according to Ernest Klein, in his Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language, māmōn may be from m’mwn, “trust, deposit,” from the verbal root √’mn, “to trust.”

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raca

Biblical noun Term of derision or disrespect (3 Nephi 12:22 = Matthew 5:22)

Etymology: The Book of Mormon word RACA may be from the biblical noun of disrespect, RACA, meaning “fool, empty-head.” Raca is mentioned in Matthew 5:22 and is used again in the risen Lord’s sermon to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 12:22. The English word RACA is from the Greek raká, itself from the Aramaic rêqā, “empty-head, fool, numbskull; good for nothing, worthless man” = Greek kenós = Latin vacuus; compare Herbew rêq, “empty; vain, frivolous” (in a negative sense; cf. Judges 9:4; 2 Chronicles 13:7).