1500-1600 meaning of Lucifer

[Logos1560]

Deut. 19:15b at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter
be established

What was the established meaning of the word
Lucifer as it was used in the 1500's and 1600's
according first-hand witnesses?

The rendering "lucifer" was the Latin word
used in the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate at Isaiah 14:12. The old 1380's Wycliffe's Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate was the first to transfer the Latin word into the English Bible.

What was the meaning of this word in the 1500's and 1600's?

1. first-hand witness from 1500's

The marginal note in the 1560 Geneva Bible at Isaiah 14:12 stated: "for the morning star that goeth before the sun is called Lucifer."

2. first-hand witness in 1611

The KJV translators in their 1611 marginal note have the literal meaning or alternative translation for "Lucifer" as "daystar." Daystar is Old English for the morning star. That this was their intended meaning is made even more clear by leading KJV translator Lancelot Andrewes.
In a sermon, Andrewes referred to "St. Peter's 'Lucifer in cordibus' [daystar in your hearts] (Hewison, SELECTED WRITINGS, p. 112).

3. first-hand witness in 1657

The 1657 Haak Bible (the English translation by Theodore Haak of the 1637 Dutch Statenvertaling Version that even some KJV-only
authors say was based on the Received Text)
has the rendering "O morning star" at Isaiah 14:12.

4. first-hand witness in 1672

A 1672 edition of the KJV printed in London
has the following note at Isaiah 14:12: "for the morning star that goeth before the sun is callled
Lucifer."

5. bonus witness in 1534 in Luther's German
Bible

This meaning is also confirmed by the 1534 Luther's German Bible that has "morgen stern"
[morning star] at Isaiah 14:12.

These witnesses from the 1500's and 1600's establish that "Lucifer" was used as a synonym
for "day star" or "morning star." THE BARNHART DICTIONARY OF ETYMOLOGY affirmed that this word "Lucifer" was "borrowed from the Latin 'lucifer' the morning star" (p. 613).
The 1828 Webster's Dictionary defined 'daystar'
as: "The morning star, Lucifer, Venus; the star which precedes the morning light." Gail Riplinger maintained that the 1828 Webster's Dictionary defines words as they were used during the writing of the KJV1611.

 

[natters]

An additional witness is Strong's Hebrew dictionary, which gives the definition of the Hebrew word in this verse as "the morning-star".

 

[Phillip]

Not necessarily 1500s-1600s, but interesting non-the-less:

Isa 14:12

(ALT)

(ASV) How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations!

(CEV) You, the bright morning star, have fallen from the sky! You brought down other nations; now you are brought down.

(Darby) How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground, that didst prostrate the nations!

(DRB) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?

(EMTV)

(ESV) "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

(GB) How art thou fallen from heauen, O Lucifer, sonne of the morning? and cutte downe to the grounde, which didest cast lottes vpon the nations?

(GNT)

(HCSB) Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.

(KJV+) How349 art thou fallen5307 from heaven,4480, 8064 O Lucifer,1966 son1121 of the morning!7837 how art thou cut down1438 to the ground,776 which didst weaken2522, 5921 the nations!1471

(KJV-1611) How art thou fallen from heauen, O Lucifer, sonne of the morning? how art thou cut downe to the ground, which didst weaken the nations?

(KJVA) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

(LITV) Oh shining star, son of the morning, how you have fallen from the heavens! You weakening the nations, you are cut down to the ground.

(MKJV) How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!

(UPDV) How you have fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how you are cut down to the ground, that laid low the nations!

 

[robycop3]

Clearly there are several different morning stars in Scripture. We have the morning stars of Job 38:7 'day starre' of Isaiah 14:12, the morning star that Jesus gives the believers in Rev.2;28, and Jesus' being the bright and morning star of Rev. 22:16.

The KJVO claim that the MVs equate Jesus with Satan in Isaiah 14:12 by saying 'morning star' is propaganda and shows its advocates haven't read nor studied their KJVs very well....or it's a deliberate tall tale by some KJVOs who hope someone will actually BELIEVE it.