Coined by God: Words and Phrases That First Appear in English Translations of the Bible

by Jeffrey McQuain, Stanley Malless, Jeff McQuain

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...

• 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

cute and enlightening. and contains SEX! ...

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.