[quote=Turtlicious]
I though that the Japanese 萌え, もえ (moe, “budding”, “sprouting”), was an imperfective or continuative form of 萌える, もえる (moeru, “to burst into bud”, “to sprout”), from a kun reading of the Han character 萌 (“bud”, “sprout”).
[/quote]

It could very well be a pun of that, but the basis of the phrase is the word 燃える、which is 'to burn'. If you really want to get into the whole pedophilia thing, the more commonly used word for that is 咲く, which means 'to bloom' [easier to imagine if you're going to think of ... well, you get the picture].