Theories About The Term's Etymology
A footnote to Moses 5:31 in the LDS Church edition of the Pearl of Great Price states that "'Mind,' 'destroyer,' and 'great one' are possible meanings of the roots evident in 'Mahan'" but no further explanation is provided. In referring to this footnote, Matthew B. Brown, a Mormon apologist, has stated that he believes Mahan means "destroyer", because "the Hebrew word maha means 'destroy,' and the addition of an n would make the word a noun. Hence, maha(n) = destroy(er)."
Some commentators have suggested that Master Mahan is derived or related to Master Mason, the highest degree of the Blue Lodge of freemasonry. A Mormon apologist stated that "nti-Mormon critics have long claimed that Master Mahan is a thinly veiled variation of Master Mason" and that they believe that "the presence of this title in LDS scripture clearly demonstrates that Joseph Smith plagiarized Masonic material for his creative ventures". D. Michael Quinn has suggested that this interpretation "ignor textual and linguistic context" of the passage, and as an alternative favors the interpretation of the phrase's derivation from Mahoun.
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