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22011 sees the 400th anniversary of what we know as the Authorized Version of the Bible. However, scholars seem to differ about the accuracy of that title. According to David Daniell it was only in 1842 that this appeared on its title page; previously it was always ‘Appointed to be read in churches’ – Anglican churches, of course. Oddly enough I have a Cambridge AV – whoops! – which sticks with ‘Appointed’, while one printed by Oxford adds ‘Authorized King James Version’, which gets in just about everything that could be. The translation itself was authorized by King James, but that is covered by ‘Translated… by his Majesty’s special command’.
If you look carefully you will see this actually says: ‘Translated out of the original tongues: and with former translations diligently compared and revised.’ In fact the KJV is essentially and intentionally a revision of the earlier Bishops’ Bible. Either by design or good fortune this was a master-stroke. The revision, which was certainly an improvement, lost the earlier name thus making it more acceptable to those who did not believe in episcopacy (though it still had the word ‘bishop’ in the translation).
It is a fact that the KJV was slightly archaic even when it appeared; it did not reflect ordinary English usage of the day. In addition, in those days ‘thou’ was not a term of respect or reverence, but of familiarity. It was equivalent to ‘tu’ in French and in Spanish. To pray ‘Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be THY name’ emphasized the familiarity with which a child would speak to a father. It is surprising, as well as irritating, that people today sometimes plead for the exact opposite of the sense which ‘thee’, ‘thou’ and ‘thy’ once had and which became redundant long ago.
