Biblical influence on English Language
“The greatest of all translations is the English Bible.
It is even more than that: It is the greatest English book, the first of the
English classics, the source of the greatest influences upon English Character
and speech………. It is in a singular degree, the voice of a people.” ---- George
Sampson. It is needless to say that the influence of the Bible on English
literature has been immensely great and most valuable. Ever since the
publication of the first translation of the Bible by Wycliffe to the
publication of the Authorized Version in 1611, its influence on English
literature and language has been constant and steady. These productions exerted
great influence in the development of standard prose relinquishing the crude
style of the liturgical treatises. The influence of the Bible was immensely
felt in other branches of literature especially in poetry.
The Authorized Version of the Bible was published in
1611. It was the work of forty-seven scholars nominated by James I, over whom
Bishop Lancelot Andrews presided. It is very difficult to distinguish the
influence of Authorized Bible from that of the earlier forms yet it found a
righteous conclusion of religions controversies started in 1523 in England.
Humanism, the product of the Renaissance and the
religions Reformation came into conflict during the mid 16th century England.
The greatest advantage of this was that they largely contributed to the
development of English prose. The controversialists wanted to reach the public
and win over their sympathies. For that purpose they had to write their
pamphlets and treatise in simple English so that it could easily be understood
by the common people. That is how the translation of the Bible into English
raised the controversies and how these controversies helped in the development
of English prose. Let us now study the Biblical influence upon the modern
English as it stands now.
Proverbs & phrases: Many proverbs and phrases, which
are in common use in modern English, are the gifts of the Bible. Quotations
from the Bible are given profusely. English language has been enriched by the
Bible so much that a proper assessment is practically impossible. Some
illustrations of Biblical phrases are given below: ‘arose as one man’, ‘broken
reed’, ‘a law unto themselves’, ‘the man of sin’, ‘moth and rust’, ‘clear as
crystal’, ‘the eleventh hour’, ‘city of refuse’, ‘whited sepulcher’, ‘wash
one’s hands off’ and many other familiar scriptural phrases and allusions. From
Tyndale we owe ‘long-suffering’, ‘peacemaker’, ‘stumbling block’, ‘the fatted
calf’, ‘filthy lucre’, ‘mercy seat’, ‘day spring’ and ‘scapegoat’. From
Coverdale we have ‘tender mercy’, ‘loving-kindness’, ‘valley of the shadow of
death’, ‘avenges of blood’ etc. Many such Biblical phrases and idioms are
current in modern English without even knowing its source.
Poetry: Right from Chaucer to the present day the influence
of the Bible is clearly discernible in poetry. Even Chaucer drew the material
for some of his tales from the Bible. Spenser’s Fairy Queen is also “steeped in
the humanism of the classics and Italian literature and it everywhere testifies
to the strenuous idealism and moral earnestness of Protestantism”. Milton’s
Paradise Lost is Biblical while the metaphysical poets were interested in
Biblical allusion. In the twentieth century the poetry of T.S.Eliot, Yeats, and
Dylan Thomas is full of the Biblical references. Technically the Biblical
influence can be seen in the use of ‘th’ such as in hath, ‘loveth’, ‘hateth’,
‘giveth’ etc in place of ‘has’, ‘haves’, ‘gives’ etc as a poetical style.
Again, we find old past tenses in ‘gat’, ‘clave’, ‘brake’ instead of got,
clove, broke in poetry mastered by Tennyson, Morris, Coleridge etc. Instead of
using ‘s’ ending in verbs we have: “He prayeth best who loveth best/All things
both great and small”- Ancient Mariners.
Superlatives, Scriptural Proper Names: On the analogy of
the scriptural ‘holy of holies’ which contains a Hebrew manner of expressing
the superlatives, we get in modern English similar phrases such as: In my heart
of hearts, the place of all places, a friend of friends, the pearl of pearls, a
prince of princes etc.
Further scriptural proper names are often used as
appellatives to designate types of character. As for example, ‘to raise Cain’
meaning to make a determined angry fuss; ‘David and Jonathan’ means ‘any pair
of devoted friends’.
Revival of Some Archaic Words: Biblical usage has revived
some of the lost words into full life. Such words are like ‘damsel’ for young
women, ‘raiment and apparel’ for dress, ‘firmament’, a poetical synonym for
sky’.
The modern world has seen many changes; but it has, so
far, seen no movement that has shaken the supremacy of the greatest of English
books ‘The Bible’. If ever the Bible falls from its high sovereignty, we may be
sure that the English character has fallen with it.
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