Coined by God: Words and Phrases That First Appear in English Translations of the Bible
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Book Overview
From "appetite" to "liberty," the Bible has been one of the richest sources for introducing words and concepts into the English language. Even the names of the biblical books, from "Genesis" to "Revelation," have enlarged the English vocabulary. Not only did hundreds of words come into English when biblical translators used them, but so did dozens of now common phrases, from "blood money" to "salt of the earth." The authors cite chapter and verse and trace the words right up to today's headlines. Each entry is a window onto the often-forgotten biblical story that gave rise to the word. Arranged from A to Z, and reader-friendly regardless of faith, the book offers entries about biblical words and phrases that have moved into the general culture. Included is a brief chronology of the English translations of the Bible as well as indexes for source and translator.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0393020452
ISBN13:9780393020458
Release Date:February 2003
Publisher:W. W. Norton & Company
Length:256 Pages
Weight:0.76 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 5.3" x 7.3"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
cute and enlightening. and contains SEX! ...
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
McQuain, a former researcher for William Safire's weekly On Language column in The Sunday New York Times, with Mr. Malless, have compiled a book of words in English that first appeared and were coined for the King James English translation version of the Bible. Words like Adoption, Treasure, Appetite, Liberty, First Fruits, Novelty, Nurse, Busybody, Land of Nod, "holier-than-thou", Crime, Cucumber (cucumeres), Ivory Tower, botch, brother's keeper, sex, "coat of many colors", bundle, bloodthirsty, and Sprinkler are included. "Left wing", I had thought came from the French National Assembly. But I was wrong, it was created as a term during the translation of 1 Maccabees 9:16. "Stiff-necked" was also coined for the KJV (Act 7:51). The word "irrevocable", was coined in order to translate a sentence in Ezekiel, derived from Latin for "may not be called back again." The word was also briefly coined for the bible. A fun quick read to review and review for any lexicon irregular.
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