or "thou" or "dost" or "casteth"?
2006-12-14 07:05:08 · 12 answers · asked by я℮ḋ αтℏ℮їṧṫ 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I don't know... But I'm definitely going to use "verily" in a sentence today and see people's reaction. It's a pretty word.
2006-12-14 07:07:54 · answer #1 · answered by ....... 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"Verily" comes from a Latin root and means "truthfully", as in, "truthfully, I say unto you".
English is a Germanic language, so you will find many Middle- and Shakespearian English words that have Germanic roots that we don't use anymore. "Thou" has the same origin as the German "Du", and "dost" (the 2nd person singular of the verb "do") comes from the German trait of putting "-st" at the end of the 2nd person singular form of a verb, like "Hast du..." . The same goes for "casteth". The German equivalent would be "castest" (although such a word doesn't exist in German.) German doesn't use a "th" sound, thus the English replace the "st" with "th".
Over the centuries since Shakespeare, English has become less of "The King's English" and more affected by the English spoken by commoners. For the sake of brevity, they chopped the ends off words like these (changing "dost" into "do", and "casteth" into "cast". It was so much easier. Even today, we abbreviate everything. I doubt that someone from the 1700's would be able to understand today's street lingo.
2006-12-14 07:19:29 · answer #2 · answered by FUNdie 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Language changes over time. Elizabethan or Jacobean English, as seen in the King James Version of the Bible, isn't necessarily holier than today's English. The same style of English used in the KJV is used in Shakespeare's plays.
When Jesus walked the earth, he didn't used Jacobean English, or any English. He probably spoke in a venacular Aramaic, a language akin to Hebrew, and he probably knew Hebrew, and maybe some Greek and Latin. He spoke in everyday terms about farmers and fishermen and shepherds. If he had come today, he'd probably compose parables about the Internet.
As I said earlier, language evolves, grows, and changes over time.
2006-12-14 07:13:15 · answer #3 · answered by MNL_1221 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Believe it or not most other languages (besides English) still commonly use a formal way of speaking like that. They often have separate ways of speaking to people who are older or in higher positions than you and another way of speaking to children, and close friends.
The proper translation for these formal ways of speaking, even today in 2006, is still "thee," and "thou." I think the main reason the formal way of speaking became so uncommon in English while other languages maintained it was because of the movement of democracies in English speaking countries. People were suddenly all considered equal and not of higher authority, so we just slowly but surly stopped using it so much.
2006-12-14 07:17:08 · answer #4 · answered by daisyk 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Verily I say unto thee...dost thou have another question? Canst thou think of one?
2006-12-14 07:08:49 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Verily, mankind is astray, except but a few.
Lol i used verily, its just the way of expression modern english isnt the same as old english.
2006-12-14 07:08:38 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Language evolves.
As a language is used, the meanings of its terms slowly shift over time.
It is possible that in 500 years from now, the English language will use many other terms we don't have today.
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2006-12-14 07:21:03 · answer #7 · answered by Catholic Philosopher 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Verily, translated into modern language means, Truely.
2006-12-14 07:11:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because language changes over time.
2006-12-14 07:07:18 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
get an NIV version. The kjv is soo stuffy, and its 400 yrs old so they used different language back then.
2006-12-14 07:10:50 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋