Some of the most ordinary phrases in English were printed in 1611.
This independent language-history guide looks at the idioms people use every day, often with no religious meaning at all, that passed into English through the King James Bible and the older translations it drew on.
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257 IDIOMS counted by one linguist
Phrases, not preaching
Most were older than 1611
Popularised by being read aloud
How a translation shaped everyday speech
THE SHORT ANSWER
Fewer than you think, older than you think.
One count found 257 idioms. Only 18 were the 1611 translators' own wording.
THE COUNT
257 everyday idioms
The linguist David Crystal read the whole King James Bible twice and counted 257 expressions still current in modern English. People he asked had guessed anything from 50 to 1,000.
Most of those idioms were already in earlier English translations: Wycliffe's of 1388, Tyndale's, the Geneva Bible or the Bishops' Bible. The 1611 translators were told to build on them.
The King James Bible did not invent most of these phrases, Crystal says. It popularised them, because it was read aloud in churches to so many people for so long.
Pick a familiar phrase to see whether it was new in 1611 or already in earlier English Bibles. The bar shows how far the wording belongs to the King James translators alone.
Based on David Crystal's count in Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language (2010), as summarised in his own article. Language history only.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
Big influence, smaller than the myth.
One figure for all the idioms Crystal found, one for those that were new in 1611.
257
Expressions from the King James Bible still current in English
Crystal says there is no magic in the figure and another reader might count a few more. He also says it is about twice the number of idioms Shakespeare introduced.
IDIOMS IN USE · DAVID CRYSTAL
18
Expressions stylistically unique to the King James Bible
Every other idiom he found is shared with at least one earlier translation, such as Tyndale's, nearly a century older, or Wycliffe's of 1388, the first into English.
NEW IN 1611 · DAVID CRYSTAL
Crystal separates idioms, used every day with no religious context and often changed in meaning, from quotations, which keep their biblical sense and setting. Only idioms were counted.
HOW THE 1611 BIBLE WAS MADE
A committee job, not a new start.
The Folger Shakespeare Library's exhibition 'Manifold Greatness' traced how the translation came about. These are the main steps it describes.
A request at Hampton Court
At James I's Hampton Court conference of 1604, the scholar John Rainolds asked for a new translation of the whole Bible, and the king agreed.
About four dozen translators
Committees met for years at Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster. No definitive list survives; many researchers use about 47.
Start from the Bishops' Bible
Each translator worked from an unbound copy of the 1602 Bishops' Bible, marking changes and drawing freely on earlier English Bibles.
Printed in 1611
The King's Printer, Robert Barker, printed the first edition; scholars estimate between 500 and 1,000 copies.
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PLAYING WITH THE PHRASES
Bent, borrowed and reworked.
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What makes a phrase a true idiom, Crystal argues, is that people adapt it freely. He found biblical expressions turning up in nuclear physics, court cases, sitcoms, recipe books, punk lyrics and video games.
The style has not all survived. Much of its grammar is now obsolete, and 29 of the 31 verses in the first chapter of Genesis begin with 'And', something many people were taught at school not to do.
Questions
Questions people ask
Did the King James Bible invent these phrases?
Mostly not. David Crystal found that most of the 257 idioms he counted were already in earlier English translations, such as Tyndale's or the Bishops' Bible. Only 18 were stylistically unique to the 1611 version.
Why did the translators reuse older wording?
According to Crystal and the Folger exhibition, their guidelines told them to use the 1602 Bishops' Bible as the base and alter it as little as possible, turning to other versions only where it fell short.
What is the difference between an idiom and a quotation?
Crystal counts a phrase as an idiom if people use it outside any religious context, often with a changed meaning, like a fly in the ointment. A quotation stays in its religious setting and keeps its original sense.
Was it ever officially 'authorised'?
Crystal says the work was never authorised in any legal sense, despite the popular name Authorized Version. It was 'appointed to be read in Churches', which gave it an unmatched public reach.
Did Shakespeare help translate it?
No. The Folger calls this a lingering myth: all but one of the translators were clergymen, chosen for their knowledge of ancient languages.
