I mention these biographical details in order to illustrate the background of training and experience from which Professor Ricks speaks. He recently published a very brief but striking article in the free online “Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture” (mormoninterpreter.com) under the title “A Nickname and a Slam Dunk: Notes on the Book of Mormon Names Zeezrom and Jershon.”
In it, he first discusses “Zeezrom,” which, he argues, seems to be a “dysphemism” — that’s the opposite of a “euphemism” — a nickname meaning “he of the ezrom.”