Archaic Words In The KJV

Let's do the same list for the NIV...

abasement
abashed
abutted
acclamation
aghast
alcove
annotations
armlets
bewilderment
blunted
blustering
breakers
brooches
brood
burnished
carnelian
charioteers
citron
colonnade
commemorate
cooing
cors
curds
dappled
debauchery
decimated
dejected
deluded
denarii
denarius
desecrate
despoil
detachment
disheartened
disillusionment
dissipation
drachmas
dragnet
duplicity
elation
embedded
embitter
embodiment
emphatically
encouragingly
encrouch
engulf
enrollment
enthralled
enveloped
exasperate
exterminate
exult
factions
famished
fattened
faultfinders
fawns
fellowman
festival
festive
fieldstones
figurehead
filigree
fishnets
flagstaff
flank
fleeting
flinging
flogged
floodgates
fluttering
fomenting
forded
forevermore
frolic
fruitage
gadfly
gaiety
galled
gateway
gaunt
gauntness
gecko
glancing
glint
glistcning
gloat
gloom
glutted
goblet
goiim
grapevine
Hades
harrowing
haunt
headwaters
hoopoe
horde
ibex
ignoble
impaled
imperishable
impetuous
improvise
incited
incurs
indestructible
indignant
indispensable
infamy
innumerable
insolence
insolent
jeered
joists
jowls
kingship
lifeboat
magi
mainstay
marauders
marshaled
mattocks
maxiums
melodious
memorandum
mina
misdemeanor
naive
nationality
naught
Negev
Nephilim
nightfall
noonday
Nubians
nuggets
nurtured
oarsmen
oblivion
obscenity
offal
officiate
opportune
ore
overawed
overweening
parapet
piled
pinions
porphyry
portent
portico
poultice
Praetorium
prefects
proconsul
profligate
promiscuity
qualm
rabble
ramparts
rawboned
reeked
repointing
reposes
reputed
resound
resplendent
reveled
revelry
revening
rifts
sachet
satraps
sheathed
siegeworks
simplehearted
sistrums
squall
stadia
stag
stipulations
suckling
sullen
temperate
tempest
terebinth
tethered
thong
thornbush
thundercloud
timidity
tinder
torrent
tranquillity
transcends
transplanted
tresses
tumult
turbulent
tyrannical
tyranny
underlings
vassal
vaunts
vent
verdant
vestments
vexed
wadi
waylaid
waywardness
weakling
wily
windstorm
wrenched
wretches
yearling

 

With all due respect, Larry, nearly half your words from the NIV are in common usage.

Who doesn't know what a windstorm is? Or what 'wily' means? Wretches? Wrenched? Verdant? Vent? yearling? Tyrannical? Transplanted? That's just a FEW!

Others have no simple one or two-word alternatives. An example is 'Nubians'. They were an ancient African people, whose nation was named Nubia, and Nubian is their name, same as 'Egyptian' is the name of the people of Egypt.

And "gecko"? Guess ya don't watch TV nor had 10th grade biology!

 

robycop3,

Yes, you are right.

First off i should probably state that i am not kjvo.

I copied the list from http://www.av1611.org/kjv/vanceniv.html
To tell you the truth i was too lazy to edit out the words i thought were not archaic.

I figured it was o.k. to have words that were not archaic in the list as the same is true of the list for kjv archaisms...

adjure
assayed
bray
ensue

 

A little advice, Larry...Dr. Vance is as about a reliable a Bible authority as Pres. Bush is on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Besides this unquestionably-inaccurate list, he is the author of several goofy, highly-questionable doctrines(Seven-Times Purified, Seven Church Ages)and I don't believe a thing he says. To top it off, his degree is in ENGLISH, so he SHOULD know, better than most, what words are common usage, and what is archaic! My advice is to avoid believing ANYTHING he or Terry Watkins says.


Every Bible translation has its own set of words not in everyday use, or are now archaic. I believe that most British who read the early AV editions understood every word. I don't think archaic or uncommon words are any basis for accepting or rejecting any Bible version.

 

Thanks for the advice about Dr. Vance and Terry Watkins.

That was kind of my point with my first reply to this thread.

 

Dr. Bob,

I agree that archaisms is an important topic.

From my point of view the more we purposefully cloud the meaning of the Word of God the more we deny, in our actions, the doctrine of perspicuity.

Really the underlying textual issue is the more important issue. Once one has a firm grip on what texts they believe are the purest, then the issue of translation should be undertaken.

I am still a little split on the textual issue, so until i get a firmer grasp where i stand there translation is really secondary.

 

Well, lessee, Rippon:

DUKE...same as now, a nobleman of high rank
ADJURE...Same as today, a solemn command, used today in US courts, to remind someone they're under oath.
BLAINS...Same as today; sore or irritated places, such as chilblains

CHAPT...Same as today, CHAPPED. The dry ground was chapt, chapped
CHOLERCHODE...Here I'm guessing. Choler is now a little-used word for anger, while chode is an obsolete word for argued. So I'm guessing that cholerchode was an angry argument.
BRAY...Besides the sound made by a donkey, another meaning is to grind grain to powder, or to prepare medicine by pounding its ingredients to powder with a mortar & pestle. This term is still used in pharmacy.
BOX...almost any hand-held container, including flasks or bottles of liquid
CLOUTED...patched. Seamstresses & quilters still sew CLOUTS upon a work for embellishments.
CONCUPISCENCE...same as today; strong desire, especially sexual
COULTER...besides Ann, a plow or similar tilling tool

That's just off the toppa my head, and all I'm gonna try right now. Please correct any mistakes I made!

 

Please add compass, conversation, and communicate to the list... as well as comprehend which was recently pointed out by Doc Cassidy as a word that doesn't mean what most think it means in the KJV.

 

More from the KJV:

JACINTH
justle
knop
milch
lees
lign
ligure
maw
meteyard
murrain
nitre
neesings
onych
purloining

to name a few.

 

Lessee, Declare Him:

MAW...something I have, a BIG MOUTH. Cave mouths are often called maws by spelunkers if one can enter the cave standing up. That's where I hear the word still used most often. (Besides for "mom" or "grandma", of course.

MURRAIN...A name for just about any unspecified easily-spread disease affecting livestock. A vet in my 'hood uses it to describe summer hair loss in dogs or cats due to illness & not just heat.

JACINTH...In Scripture, a dark-red or deep-purple zircon gem; in modern usage, a hyacinth which blooms in those colors, as well as the gem. "Ligure" is an obsolete name for the same gem.

LIGN...Obsolete term for wood. I remember seeing it in the etymology of "lignite".

PURLOINING...Theft by deception. Commonly used in criminal court in cases of bad checks, breach of contract, etc. I didn't know it was obsolete.

The others in your list are, far as I know, obsolete, except we still use "mete",(measure, deal out by measure) from 'meteyard'.

 

The KJV translators updated or revised some but not all archaic words or obscure phrasing that they found in the earlier English translations. In some examples, the KJV was the first to make the revision while in others another of the earlier English Bibles first made the change. In some cases, one of the other earlier English Bibles had already updated or revised the use of an archaic word while the KJV kept it from another English Bible or went back to it.

In Galatians 5:7, Tyndale's New Testament, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Coverdale's Duoglott, Great Bible, Geneva Bible, and Bishops' Bible used "let" while the KJV updated it with "hinder." The KJV also changed the "let" in Acts 8:36 in Tyndale's, Matthew's, Great, Geneva, and Bishops' Bibles to "hinder." Again the KJV updated the "let" at Romans 15:22 in the early Bibles with "hinder." At 1 Peter 3:7, "let" in Tyndale's, Matthew's, and Whittingham's was changed to "hindered." Wycliffe’s had “letted” (1 Thess. 2:18) where the KJV has “hindered.“ Nevertheless, the KJV retained an archaic use of "let" at Romans 1:13, 2 Thessalonians 2:7, and Isaiah 43:13.

At Matthew 20:22, Luke 22:60, and John 4:22, the early Bibles except the Geneva Bible have "wot" which the KJV updated to "know." Wycliffe’s, Tyndale's, and Matthew's has "wot" other times which are updated in the KJV. Yet, the KJV kept the archaic "wot" at Acts 3:17, Acts 7:40, Romans 11:2, and Philippians 1:22. The KJV retained "wotteth" at Genesis 39:8 even though the Geneva Bible had already updated it to "knoweth." Again the KJV kept “wot” at Exodus 32:1 when the Geneva had already updated it to “know.“ At Luke 9:33, the KJV put "knowing" in place of "wist" in several of the earlier Bibles. "Understood" replaced "wist" at Luke 9:45. The KJV retained "wist" in several other verses even though the earlier Geneva Bible had "knew" instead of "wist" at Luke 2:49, John 5:13, Acts 12:9, and Acts 23:5. "Wist" is the past tense of the old English verb "wit." The KJV also kept this old verb "to wit" at Genesis 24:21 and Exodus 2:4. The Geneva Bible had already updated it "to know" at Genesis 24:21.

"Wit" as an noun in the earlier English Bibles at Revelation 13:18 was mended to "understanding" in the KJV.

The archaic use of "quick" at Romans 12:1 in Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Great, Whittingham's, and Bishops' is updated to "living" in the KJV. At Ecclesiastes 9:4, Coverdale’s, Matthew’s, and Bishops’ use of “quick dog” is updated to “living dog.“ Wycliffe’s had “quick” at John 4:11 and 7:38 where the KJV has “living.“ Another archaic use of "quick" at Romans 14:9 is updated to "living" in the KJV while archaic uses of "quick" remained in the KJV at Psalm 55:15, Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 4:12, and 1 Peter 4:5.

The KJV has “worthy” at Matthew 10:37 where Tyndale’s, Coverdale’s, Matthew’s, and Whittingham’s have “meet.“ "Meet" at Acts 6:2 in most of the earlier Bibles was updated to "good" in Bishops' and "reason" in the KJV. "Necessary" was the KJV's revision of "meet" in Tyndale's, Matthew's, Great, and Whittingham's at Acts 13:46. The KJV substituted “good” at Acts 15:38 where several pre-1611 English Bibles have “meet.“ At 2 Corinthians 2:16, the Geneva Bible and the KJV replaced the earlier Bibles' rendering "meet" with "sufficient." On the other hand, "worthy" at 1 Corinthians 15:9 in Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Great, and Bishops' was changed to "meet" in the KJV even though the KJV had translated this same Greek word as "worthy" in five other places.

The KJV updated archaic uses of "halt" with "lame" at Matthew 11:5, 15:30, 15:31, 21:14, Luke 7:22, and Acts 3:2, 11 in some of the early English Bibles. It also replaced "halted" at Acts 8:7 and "halting" at Hebrew 12:13 in the earlier Bibles with "lame." Nevertheless, the KJV kept this same use of "halt" at Matthew 18:8, Mark 9:45, Luke 14:21, and John 5:3. The 1535 Coverdale’s already has “lame” at Matthew 18:8, Luke 14:21, and John 5:3.

At Matthew 20:15 and 1 Corinthians 7:36, the archaic use of "listeth" in Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Great, and Whittingham's Bibles is updated with "will." This same use of "listeth" can still be found in the KJV at John 3:8 and James 3:4. Tyndale's, Coverdale’s, Matthew's, Great, and Bishops' Bibles have "will" at James 3:4, and Coverdale‘s has “will“ at John 3:8. At Job 23:13 and Psalm 34:12, Coverdale’s, Matthew’s, and Bishops’ have “listeth” where the KJV has “desireth.” The KJV also has a similar archaic use of “listed” at Matthew 17:12 and Mark 9:13. Tyndale’s and Matthew’s have “pleased” and Coverdale’s has “would” at Mark 9:13. Tyndale’s, Coverdale’s, and Geneva have “would” at Matthew 17:12. Coverdale’s, Matthew’s, Geneva, and Bishops’ have an archaic use of “listed” at Daniel 8:4.

The KJV revised some of the earlier Bibles' rendering "verity" to "truth" (John 1:14, Rom. 3:7, Eph. 6:14, 1 John 2:4, 1 John 3:18-19, 1 John 4:6, 3 John 4) while it kept "verity" in two verses (Ps. 111:7, 1 Tim. 2:7). Coverdale’s and Matthew’s have “verity” (Dan. 8:12, 9:13) where the KJV has “truth.“ At 1 Timothy 2:7, the 1380's Wycliffe's Bible has "truth." Wycliffe’s has “soothfast” (Matt. 22:16, Mark 12:14, John 3:33, Rom. 3:4, Rev. 19:11), which is updated to “true” in the KJV. Wycliffe’s has “soothly” (Matt. 9:37) where the Geneva has “surely” and the Bishops’ and KJV have “truly.” At Luke 7:43, the KJV substituted “rightly” where the earlier English Bibles have “truly.“ Where Wycliffe’s has “soothly” (Rom. 10:18), the KJV has “verily.“ The KJV used the adverb “verily” 140 times. The KJV substituted “surely” where Bishops’ has “verily” (Prov. 23:18) and where Coverdale’s and Bishops’ have “verily” (Isa. 45:24).

While an archaic usage of "leasing" is kept in the KJV at Psalm 4:2 and 5:6, the KJV mended "leasings" in Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, and Great Bibles at Revelation 22:15. Wycliffe’s had “leasing” instead of “lie” at John 8:44 and 1 John 2:21. Waite’s Defined KJB identified this word “leasing” at Psalm 4:2 as obsolete and defined it as “lying, falsehood, deceit” (p. 770).

The KJV changed "dissimulation" (Mark 12:15, 1 Pet. 2:1) and "simulation" (James 3:17) in some of the earlier Bibles to "hypocrisy" or "hypocrisies" while it kept "dissimulation" (Rom. 12:9, Gal. 2:13). Although "superfluity" at Mark 12:44 and Luke 21:4 in several of the early Bibles was changed to "abundance" in the KJV, "superfluity" remained in the KJV at James 1:21.

"Winepress" at Revelation 14:19-20 and 19:15 in the KJV was an updating of "winefat" in several earlier Bibles while the KJV retained "winefat" at Mark 12:1 and Isaiah 63:2. At Hosea 9:2, the 1611 KJV had this marginal note for “winepress“: “Or, wine-fat.“ The Geneva and Bishops’ Bibles had "wine press" at Isaiah 63:2. Several of the earlier Bibles had "winepress" at Mark 12:1. The Geneva Bible's rendering "winepress" (Hag. 2:16) was changed to "pressfat" in the KJV. "Presses" at Joel 2:24 and "winepresses" at Joel 3:13 in Coverdale's and Geneva Bibles became "fats" in the KJV. "Fats" is an old spelling for "vats."

At Psalm 18:48, Coverdale’s and Matthew’s have an archaic usage of “rid” which is updated in the KJV to “delivered.“ Again Coverdale’s, Matthew‘s, and Bishops’ “rid” at Jeremiah 15:21 is updated to “deliver.“ The Bishops’ Bible had archaic usages of “rid” at several more verses (Deut. 23:14, Josh. 9:26, Jud. 6:9, 10:11, 1 Sam. 7:3, 14:48, 2 Sam. 12:7, 2 Chron. 32:11, 15) which are updated to “deliver” or “delivered” in the KJV. Yet the KJV retained an archaic use of "rid" at Genesis 37:22 and Exodus 6:6 from the Bishops’ while the earlier Coverdale’s and Geneva Bibles have a form of "deliver." At Psalm 82:4, the KJV has “rid” where Coverdale’s, Geneva, and Bishops’ have “save.” These same three translations have “deliver me and take me out” at Psalm 144:7 where the KJV has “rid me and deliver me.”

Coverdale's use of the verb "worship" with the meaning of "honor, respect, or reverence" was revised in the KJV to "did reverence" (2 Sam. 9:6), "did obeisance" (2 Sam. 14:4), "bowed himself" (2 Sam. 14:22), "made obeisance" (2 Chron. 24:17), and "honour" (2 Chron. 32:33, Esther 6:3, 6). Wycliffe’s also had “worship” at several verses (Matt. 19:19, Mark 7:10, 10:19, Luke 18:20) where the KJV has “honour.“ The KJV kept a similar use of "worship" at Luke 14:10. At Daniel 2:46, Coverdale's, Matthew’s, and Geneva have "bowed himself unto Daniel" while the KJV has "worshipped Daniel."

The KJV translators substituted "gain" at 1 Timothy 6:5 for "lucre" in most of the pre-1611 English Bibles. At Jude 11, the rendering in Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Great, and Bishops' ["lucre's sake"] was altered to "reward." Coverdale’s rendering “lucre” (Micah 3:11) was revised to “hire.“ At Jeremiah 8:10, “shameful lucre” in Coverdale’s and “”filty lucre” in Matthew’s and Bishops’ were changed to “covetousness” in the KJV. At Ezekiel 22:27, Coverdale’s, Matthew’s, Geneva, and Bishops’ rendering “covetous lucre” was amended to “dishonest gain.“ In other verses (1 Sam. 8:3, 1 Tim. 3:3, 8, Titus 1:7, 11, 1 Pet. 5:2), the KJV kept similar renderings.

An archaic use of "health" at Luke 19:9 in Tyndale's, Coverdale's, Matthew's, and Great Bibles was updated to "salvation." The Oxford English Dictionary gave the following definition as an archaic use of the word health: "spiritual, moral, or mental soundness or well-being, salvation" (Vol. VII, p. 53). Likewise, "great health" at 1 Samuel 14:45 in Coverdale's was changed to "great salvation" in the KJV. The Oxford English Dictionary cited this verse in Coverdale's as an example of the use of "health" with the meaning "well-being, welfare, safety, deliverance" (Vol. VII, p. 54). Again, the KJV replaced "health" in Coverdale's Bible at 2 Samuel 22:51 with "salvation." Other examples are "health" at Psalm 51:14 and 119:123 in Coverdale's, Matthew’s, and Great Bibles that were revised to "salvation" in the KJV. Coverdale’s, Matthew’s, and Bishops’ have “health” at Isaiah 46:13 while the Geneva and KJV have “salvation.“ Coverdale’s has “health” at Isaiah 49:6 where the KJV has “salvation.“ Coverdale‘s has “saving health“ at several verses (Ps. 9;14, 13:5, 14:7, 21:1, etc.). "Horn of health" at Luke 1:69, "science of health" at Luke 1:77, “gospel of your health“ at Ephesians 1:13, "helmet of health" at Ephesians 6:17, “health by faith” at 2 Timothy 3:15 and “common health” at Jude 3 in Wycliffe's Bible are other examples of an archaic usage of this word. The KJV retained an archaic use of this same word at Psalm 42:11, 43:5, and 67:2. Coverdale's, Matthew’s, and the Geneva Bible had "help" instead of "health" at Psalm 42:11 while the 1568 edition of Bishops' had "salvation."

The rendering "science" at Luke 1:77 in Wycliffe's Bible was revised to "knowledge" as it was also at 1 Corinthians 13:8, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 3:8, and 2 Timothy 3:7. Coverdale’s rendering “science” (Isa. 40:14) is updated to “knowledge.“

At Proverbs 15:33, Coverdale’s and Bishops’ had “right science” where the KJV has “instruction.“ The KJV removed or revised the Bishops’ Bible’s rendering “cogitations” six times (Ps. 49:3, 73:7, 81:12, 94:19, 139:17, 142:2) while keeping it once (Dan. 7:28). It was changed to “meditation” at Psalm 49:3 and “thoughts” at Psalm 94:19 and 139:17. Coverdale’s and Matthew’s Bibles have “thoughts” at Daniel 7:28.

 

Shoot, the ONLY reason I can generally understand most archaic or obsolete English words is because I developed an interest in reading the works from medieval England at an early age. I'm not a bit smarter than any other average person.

(An interesting bit of info from medieval English...The bird now known as the kestrel was known in the 1400-1500s as the wind(dirtiest word beginning with F in USA English)er. This was its PROPER NAME, as I found out by writing a letter to Oxford University, not considered a bit vulgar in those days! The word now considered so dirty meant pierce or penetrate back then, again confirmed by Oxford.The kestrel was so named because it can easily fly against ordinary winds.)

 

Guess it works in with Dr.C's explanation for "Easter" in the KJV, that it may have been retained in that one instance, from earlier days, before Tyndale coined "passover", & Easter was used interchangeably with 'pask' or other old terms for passover, as well as for resurrection day.

 

In his introduction to his 1833 translation, Noah Webster noted that the word discover now usually means "to find, see, or perceive for the first time," but that in its usage in the KJV the intended meaning was "uncover, make bare, or expose to view." At Micah 1:6, Webster pointed out that "the all-seeing God had nothing to find or see for the first time" and that "the sense of the word is to uncover, to lay bare"
(p. ix). At his entry discover in his 1828 Dictionary, Webster observed that "we discover what before existed, though to us unknown." At Isaiah 47:3, Coverdale’s and Bishops’ Bible have “discovered” while the KJV updated it to “uncovered.” Coverdale’s Bible also illustrated this obsolete or archaic useage with its rendering “discovered” at Luke 12:2 while Tyndale’s and Bishops’ have “uncovered” and the Geneva and KJV have “revealed.”

 

Thank you, Logos 1560 - that is interesting.

If a word in the KJVs is archaic, then people know it and try
to figure out what it means. But a problem exists and has
existed for as long as I could have aware of it (i'm 62):
Words with archaic meanings that aren't idenitified as
being archaic.

In fact, I'm writing a book ....

The way to overcome this problem with archaic words in the KJVs
is to (I aught to devise a 12-step program):

1. Admit you have a problem
2. Get another English Translation.

(those who like translations that major on the received
texts /TRs/ will especially like:

---2a. nKJV (New King James Versions, about 1985)
---2b. HCSB (Christian Standard Bible /Holman,2006/)


3. Assume that all God's Scripture is inspired.
Assume that if there seems to be a conflict between two
versions and/or within one version: God didn't put it there,
your earthly mind has put it there.
4. Pray God will reveal even more than the usual amount
of knowledge because of the truth of multiple scriptures.

Consider this Scripture:

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV1769 Edition):
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a
workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 (HCSB):

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,
a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed,
correctly teaching the word of truth.

This passage has at least two 'archaic but not obvious'
words in the KJVs:

'Study' means the same thing in 1769 as 'be diligent' means in 2006.
So the term goes beyond studying the Bible to include all the
good words that a born-again Christian will be doing.

But in 2006 'study' means to 'look over the books' which has
a limited meaning.

'Rightly dividing' mean in 1769 the same thing that 'correctly
teaching' means in 2006.
But 'rightly dividing' in 2006 means 'figuring things out right'.
This also has a limited meaning. The 'correctly teaching' has
a wider application: not only must we 'study' for oursevles the
Scriptures, we must teach them rightly to others, especially those
for whom we are responsible to teach: children if a parent,
congegration if a pastor/teacher, etc.