All languages
Language
Early Modern English
The English of Tyndale, Shakespeare, and the King James Bible.
- Family
- West Germanic (Indo-European)
- Script
- Latin alphabet
- Era
- c. 1500 – 1700 CE
Character
Early Modern English is the language of the Reformation. Grammar had largely stabilized, printing standardized spelling, and translators from Tyndale onward had direct access to Hebrew and Greek sources — enabling English translations no longer routed through the Vulgate.
What it does well
- 'Thee'/'thou' distinguished second-person singular from plural, matching Hebrew and Greek.
- A rich, still-flexible vocabulary permitted coinages that entered English permanently (e.g. 'scapegoat', 'beautiful').
- Cadence and rhythm shaped by public reading aloud.
Translation challenges
- Vocabulary and idiom have drifted: 'let' once meant 'hinder', 'prevent' meant 'go before'.
- Verb endings (-eth, -est) and archaic pronouns obscure meaning for modern readers.
Notes
Tyndale (1526), Geneva (1560), and the King James (1611) together define the English biblical register that later translations either continue or deliberately break from.
Documents in Early Modern English
Manuscripts
No catalogued manuscripts.
Versions
English translations
No catalogued translations.