KJV Word of the Day: Surfeit

A surfeit of anything is too much of it. The word was applied to excess eating or drinking, to the consequent sickness and nausea, and to the resulting disgust or loathing. As such it was a natural translation of the Greek word kraipale, which stands for carousing, intoxication, and the subsequent headache and hangover.

Luke 21.34, KJV.

KJV Word of the Day: Bucklers

The KJV Word of the Day is taken from Job 15.26: "He runneth upon him, even upon his neck, Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers."

A buckler was a small, round shield with a knob or "boss" in the center, carried or strapped to the arm for use in hand-to-hand fighting.

KJV Word of the Day: Messes

This is a truly bizarre sounding word because "mess" has such a different meaning now. I take the word from Gen 42.34: "And he took and sent messes unto them, from before him; but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs." The passage sounds funny reading it from a modern perspective. "Mess" then meant "a portion or serving of food."

KJV Word of the Day: Bakemeats

I take this word from Gen 40.17: "And in the upper basket there were all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh." The word means: "all sorts of food made by the baker."

KJV Word of the Day: Stave

A "stave" was a strong wooden stick used as a pole or weapon (OED). I take it from Matt 26.47: "And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people."

KJV Word of the Day: Sod

Sod is the past tense form of the archaic word seethe, which means to cook by boiling. The metaphorical use of "seethe" is still in use in the English language—"when the IRS audited my tax return, I was seething with anger."

I take the term from Gen 25.29: “And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: ” (Genesis 25:29, KJV 1900).

KJV Word of the Day: Implead

I take this from Acts 19.38: Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another. As KJB Word Book points out, implead is an archaic word for "sue in a court of justice," or "bring charges against." It is a lonely rendering, for the prior translations had “let them accuse one another” and the revised versions returned to that. RSV has “let them bring charges against one another” and “we are in danger of being charged with rioting today.”

KJV Word of the Day: Dure

"Dure" is taken from Matt 13.21: Yet hath he not root in himself; but dureth for awhile. Dure is an obsolete word now, originally taken from the Latin durare. It has been replaced by "endure." The meaning is to remain or persevere or last.

KJV Word of the Day: Quaternion

I take this word from Acts 12.4: “And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. ” (Acts 12:4, KJV 1900).

From the King James Bible Word Book:

QUATERNION means a group or set of four. The Latin word quaternio was applied to the number four on dice; the Greek tetradion refers to four days in one of the ancient papyri discovered within the last 70 years, and to quires of four sheets of parchment in another. When Herod put Peter in prison, he assigned four quaternions of soldiers to guard him (Acts 12:4). The word “quaternion” was taken by Wyclif, and later by Tyndale, directly from the Latin Vulgate, and was retained by subsequent versions.

“Quaternion” is still living English in the realm of mathematics, and in the field of publishing, where it means a quire of four sheets, doubled so as to make sixteen pages. RSV drops the term and says “four squads of soldiers.” The significant fact is not that each squad was made up of four men, but that there were four squads, each to be on duty during one of the four three-hour watches of the night. The squad of soldiers which was detailed to crucify Jesus seems to have consisted of four men (John 19:23). There is an interesting article on Acts 12:4 in Edgar J. Goodspeed, Problems of New Testament Translation, pp. 131–132.

KJV Word of the Day: Winebibber

I took the KJV word of the day from Matt 11.19: “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. ” (Matthew 11:19, KJV 1900)

It's a pretty easy word to understand, and a fairly descriptive one at that. Here's what the KJV Bible Word Book says about it:

WINEBIBBER. From the Latin verb bibere, to drink, are derived the English verb “bib,” to drink or tipple, and the nouns “bibation” and “bibber.” “Winebibber” occurs three times in KJ. It is retained by RSV in Proverbs 23:20–21:

“Be not among winebibbers,

or among gluttonous eaters of meat;

for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.”

Here “winebibbers” represents a Hebrew phrase which means “drinkers of wine,” and “drunkard” stands for the Hebrew word which appears also in Deuteronomy 21:20.

“Winebibber” is not retained by RSV in the comment which Jesus quoted concerning himself: “Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matthew 11:19 = Luke 7:34).

KJV Word of the Day: Gainsaying

My KJV strange word of the day today is "gainsaying," taken from Acts 10.29: Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?

From the King James Bible Word book: GAINSAY, GAINSAYING, GAINSAYERS. “Gainsay” is not yet obsolete, but it has become a purely literary word, slightly archaic. It is the only word that remains of a set of compound verbs which were common in the middle ages. These verbs were formed by prefixing “gain” or “again” (both meaning “against”) to the verb root: “again-call” (to revoke), “again-rise” (to rebel), “gainstand” (to resist).

“Gainsay” means to speak against, hence to deny, contradict, oppose. RSV replaces the term in each of its five KJ appearances. “Without gainsaying” (Acts 10:29) is “without objection.” “A disobedient and gainsaying people” (Romans 10:21) is “a disobedient and contrary people.” For “perished in the gainsaying of Core” (Jude 11) RSV reads “perish in Korah’s rebellion.” “… able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9) is more accurately translated “… able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to confute those who contradict it.” In Luke 21:15 RSV follows the ancient Greek manuscripts, in which the order of the words differs from the medieval manuscripts available to the KJ translators; it therefore changes “which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist,” to read “which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.”

KJV Word of the Day: Suborn

Suborn is actually a word that is still in use legally; I use it simply because I did not clearly understand what it meant and found it interesting that the word was used in the KJV. It is used in Acts 6.11: Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. The meaning both in this context and legally is: To bribe or otherwise induce someone to commit an illegal act.