What do the following have in common? Let there be light - A fly in the ointment - A rod of iron - New wine in old bottles Lick the dust - How are the mighty fallen - Kick against the pricks - Wheels within wheels They are all in the King James Bible. This astonishing book "has contributed far more to English in the way of idiomatic or quasi-proverbial expressions than any other literary source." So wrote David Crystal in 2004. In Begat he returns to the subject not only to consider how a work published in 1611 could have ...
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What do the following have in common? Let there be light - A fly in the ointment - A rod of iron - New wine in old bottles Lick the dust - How are the mighty fallen - Kick against the pricks - Wheels within wheels They are all in the King James Bible. This astonishing book "has contributed far more to English in the way of idiomatic or quasi-proverbial expressions than any other literary source." So wrote David Crystal in 2004. In Begat he returns to the subject not only to consider how a work published in 1611 could have had such influence on the language, but how it can still do so when few regularly hear the Bible and fewer still hear it in the language of Stuart England. No other version of the Bible however popular (such as the Good News Bible) or imposed upon the church (like the New English Bible) has had anything like the same influence. David Crystal shows how its words and phrases have over the centuries found independent life in the work of poets, playwrights, novelists, politicians, and journalists, and how more recently they have been taken up with enthusiasm by advertisers, Hollywood, and hip-hop. Yet the King James Bible owes much to earlier English versions, notably those by John Wycliffe in in the fourteenth century and William Tyndale in the sixteenth. David Crystal reveals how much that is memorable in the King James Bible stems from its forebears. At the same time he shows how crucial were the revisions made by King James's team of translators and editors. "A person who professes to be a critic in the delicacies of the English language ought to have the Bible at his finger's ends," Lord Macaulay advised Lady Holland in 1831. Begat shows how true that remains. It will be a revelation to all who read it.
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Add this copy of Begat: the King James Bible and the English Language to cart. $9.15, new condition, Sold by Hill City Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lynchburg, VA, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Oxford University Press.
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New in Very Good jacket. 327pp. NEW in VG dustjacket with a repaired 5cm tear. The repaired tear is to the bottom rear of the dustjacket. David Crystal "the world's greatest authority on the English language" (blurb) examines the enormous idiomatic and metaphorical influences that the Authorized translation of the Bible, the King James Bible, have had on the contemporary English language. An engagingly written excursion into the history of English, enlightening and indispensable for any specialist. L35.
Add this copy of Begat: the King James Bible and the English Language to cart. $66.52, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Begat: the King James Bible and the English Language to cart. $78.04, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Oxford University Press.
Add this copy of Begat: the King James Bible and the English Language to cart. $84.40, new condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Oxford University Press.
