Words Leaving The English Language In Bible Translations

[RipponRedeaux]

I did a look-see of words that have been disappearing in a number of Bible translations, or at any rate, have reduced usage. I am not listing Bible versions that do not contain these words. You can guess.
I will not be putting these versions in any order. I will not list the same ones each time. I am interested in Bible versions that use these words less than 50 times. This is not comprehensive. It will be a mishmash. There will be times in which I don't enumerate some items to your satisfaction. This is rather random. Bear with me.
Whew! Now after all those qualifiers:

Brimstone
NET --5
CEB and ESV --1

Conjure
NET, LEB -- 8
NIV -- 1

Estate
CSB -- 11
NLT,NIV -- 10
CEB -- 8
NASB, NET -- 4
LEB -- 1

Fervent
CSB -- 8
NRSV -- 6
LEB,NET -- 4
CEB -- 3
NIV, NLT -- 2

Hence
NRSV -- 11
ESV -- 3
CEB, NET -- 1

Naught
NRSV -- 2
CEB, NIV -- 1

Recompense
ESV -- 13
LEB -- 9
NIV -- 2
____________________________________________________________________________-
The word sackcloth is still used rather commonly. The NLT has burlap instead. The words forsake and forsaken are still in regular use.
Please add other words to the list. That will be insightful.

 

[RipponRedeaux]

Oops, I forgot one that I had made on another paper.

Inasmuch
NKJV -- 25
KJV --- 9
LEB -- 5
ESV -- 4
NIV --- 2
NASB, EHV -- 1

Isn't it unusual that the NKJV would use that particular word more than the KJV? One would think that the KJV would have used that word more inasmuch as it smacks so much of older English. But remember, the Revised Version of 1885 used a lot more antiquated English than the King James Version ironically enough.

 

[Reformed1689]

So I am curious as to your interest on this topic. Is there a point you are trying to make or just find it amusing?

 

[RipponRedeaux]

So I am curious as to your interest on this topic. Is there a point you are trying to make or just find it amusing?

No particular point at all. I'm merely observing the evolution of language. (Not the Evolution vs. Creationism debate). Words come and words go. And not just in Bible translations. A lot of slang expressions of the past would mystify many of us today, as well as perfectly serviceable words of yesteryear.

 

[SovereignGrace]

Look at suffer. We use it to mean going through something rough, something hard. It was used for allow in the KJV.

 

[Yeshua1]

So I am curious as to your interest on this topic. Is there a point you are trying to make or just find it amusing?

maybe that we all need to update to the 'really contemporary: Niv?

 

[RipponRedeaux]

maybe that we all need to update to the 'really contemporary: Niv?

Sigh, when will you tire of your juvenile antics? The NIV is not considered by anyone to be "really contemporary." Even the CEV doesn't read in a contemporary manner despite being called the Contemporary English Version.

Stop your typical drive-by method of operation. Offer some substance at least once-in-a-blue-moon.

 

[RipponRedeaux]

Infidel
NASB -- 13
LEB -- 8
EHV, CEB -- 4
NRSV -- 2
NET --- 1

Keen
NET, NRSV -- 2
NIV -- 1

Wanton
NRSV -- 8
ESV --- 3
LEB, NET --- 2
NASB, NIV -- 1

 

[kathleenmariekg]

Vouchsafe might be a word worth looking at.

 

[RipponRedeaux]

Vouchsafe might be a word worth looking at.

That's not even in the KJV. But good try. Come up with some other ones.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

That's not even in the KJV. But good try. Come up with some other ones.

Interesting: now I need to research the word vouchsafe.

Vouchsafe pops up in so many other 17th and 18th century religious and secular books, and in later Bible translations. I appears to have been in the Anglican 1662 Book of Common Prayer which had an impact on English at least as great as the KJV and Shakespeare, and was frequently read and used by the majority of founding fathers.

Theological Word of the Day: Vouchsafe
Reasonable Christian: Theological Word of the Day: Vouchsafe

In the 1662 Book of Common Prayer the word "vouchsafe" often occurs in the liturgical readings for the day. ... The word "vouchsafe" here means something like "grant us the grace". In other words it is a prayer that God would grant or give us the grace today to not commit any serious and/or grievous sins.

 

[RipponRedeaux]

I will now violate one of the rules I sent forth in the OP. I will cite some versions that go over the 50 item parameter, as well as those that go far below that level.

Behold
KJV : 1,298
WEB : 1,280
NASB : 1,177
NKJV : 586
LEB : 386
NABRE : 130
ISV : 11
EHV : 6
CEB : 3
NET : 2
NIV : 1

 

[RipponRedeaux]

Bestowed
NET : 4
EHV, LEB, NKJV : 3
ESV : 2
CSB, NASB : 1

Betroth(ed)
ESV : 10
NASB, NKJV : 4
LEB : 1

Fear fell
NKJV, LEB, ESV : 3
NASB : 2
EHV, CSB : 1

I had forgotten to say that all my examples throughout this thread apply only to the New Testament.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

The KJV NT uses a very small subset of the words from the English language.

Quantifying the Task of Learning Greek

• 7,940 total verses[1]
• 138,150 total words (by word count)
• 5,420 distinct words

The first thing to observe is that, of this 5,420 words, nearly 2,000 of them appear only once (~36%).
172 words appear 100x or more (3%),
138 appearing 50-100x (2.5%).

310 words may only account for 5.5% of the total vocabulary of the NT, but they make up almost 80% of total occurrences of words in the NT.​

I think some words skipped over the KJV from the Geneva and Duoay-Rheims Bible. And I think the Westminster Catechism and Scottish and Bay and Coverdale Psalters and Book of Common Prayer and earlier translations have influenced our current Bible translations as much as the KJV. The KJV never stood alone. The KJV is called the "authorized version" by the Church of England, but it was never the only Bible used, and was not used at all by the earliest American colonists, who almost all used the Geneva Bible or Latin and Greek Bibles.

The KJV is a member of the discussion, not the center of the discussion when creating modern translations. The KJV ruled for a bit, but there is a great deal more that went on before and around it. It is impossible to use the KJV as a funnel to measure much of anything.

 

[kathleenmariekg]

The English word "vex" is interesting. I think it was only used once or twice or so in the NT, but more often in the OT. That was a common English word that has almost disappeared from modern usage. Ox, axe, and vex were words taught in the primers and first readers for the youngest students. I have noticed that even "fat" is being removed from modern early reading books, as it falls out of fashion to use it as often as it was used.

 

[RipponRedeaux]

Shall
NIV : 74
LEB : 30
EHV : 29
NET : 15
NLT : 7
CEB : 2

Whom
NIV : 151
CEB : 144
CSB : 95
NLT : 78

Thereby
NASB : 8
ISV : 6
ESV : 3
NKJV : 2
NLT, LEB : 1

 

[RipponRedeaux]

Mighty Work(S)
ESV : 14
NKJV : 10
CEB : 2
NET : 1

Opened His Mouth
NKJV : 4
ESV, LEB : 3
NET : 1

Leaven(ED)
ESV, CSB : 16
NKJV, LEB : 15
EHV : 3
NIV : 2

Drew Near
ESV : 16
NKJV : 15
LEB : 5
NET, NIV : 2

Draw(S)(ING)(N)
LEB : 15
ESV : 12
NKJV, NASB95 : 10
CEB : 8
NET : 6
CSB : 5
NIV : 4
NASB : 2
EHV : 1

 

[robycop3]

Unto
Bowels
Concupiscence
Knew, for "had sexual relations"
Fornication(35, KJV; 14, NKJV)
Lo
Multitude

 

[Martin Marprelate]

This thread really vexes me. In fact, fear fell on me as I read it. Whom shall we draw to Christ by the wanton omission of the very words that the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon us? Inasmuch as we wish to behold God bestowing eternal life on more people as they draw nigh to Christ, we need to be fervent in preach the whole counsel of God.

 

[robycop3]

This thread really vexes me. In fact, fear fell on me as I read it. Whom shall we draw to Christ by the wanton omission of the very words that the Holy Spirit has bestowed upon us? Inasmuch as we wish to behold God bestowing eternal life on more people as they draw nigh to Christ, we need to be fervent in preach the whole counsel of God.

Why? It's simply changes in the language. Some words & expressions once commonly used aren't used that much, if at all, now; simple as that.