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Originally Posted by Thasaidon
The King James version borrowed heavily on the earlier William Tyndale translation.
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Yes, and this raises some interesting detail worth noting about translation process. The
original introductory essay to the KJV explicitly acknowledges their debt to translations that went before: "...we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one, (for then the imputation of Sixtus had been true in some sort, that our people had been fed with gall of Dragons instead of wine, with whey instead of milk but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one, not justly to be excepted against; that hath been our endeavor, that our mark."
They indicate in this essay their goal was not to do something entirely new, but to improve on available good translations, as well as to be heavily informed by the original Greek and Hebrew languages in the translation process.
Most quality translations on important works that I have seen, tend to borrow from good ones that came before, to a greater or lesser degree. As science stands on the shoulders of those who came before, so does the art and science of translation. The modern ESV, one of the leading and best informed translations of the original languages, similarly acknowledges its debt. The following words from their article "Translation Legacy" in the ESV Study Bible are worth quoting at length, as you see the same type of "borrow and improve" methodology used by the KJV translators,
bold emphasis added:
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The English Standard Version ( ESV ) stands in the classic mainstream of English Bible translations over the past half-millennium. The fountainhead of that stream was William Tyndale’s New Testament of 1526; marking its course were the King James Version of 1611 ( KJV ), the English Revised Version of 1885 (RV), the American Standard Version of 1901 (ASV), and the Revised Standard Version of 1952 and 1971 (RSV). In that stream, faithfulness to the text and vigorous pursuit of accuracy were combined with simplicity, beauty, and dignity of expression. Our goal has been to carry forward this legacy for a new century. To this end each word and phrase in the ESV has been carefully weighed against the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek to ensure the fullest accuracy and clarity and to avoid under-translating or overlooking any nuance of the original text. The words and phrases themselves grow out of the Tyndale–King James legacy, and most recently out of the RSV, with the 1971 RSV text providing the starting point for our work. Archaic language has been brought to current usage and significant corrections have been made in the translation of key texts. But throughout, our goal has been to retain the depth of meaning and enduring language that have made their indelible mark on the English-speaking world and have defined the life and doctrine of the church over the last four centuries.
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Finally, none of that changes the simple fact that Alter has noted: the KJV is a lovely
complete translation that had a massive, enduring impact on the development of the English language and upon many influential writers. And still worth reading in its own right, along with modern improved translations.