Archaic KJV Word
Listeth
Modern equivalent: wishes
What Was Lost
The sovereignty of the Spirit. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth' meant the wind blows where it desires to blow -- it has its own will, its own pleasure. Jesus was describing the Holy Spirit as having sovereign, inscrutable desire. The word made the wind (and the Spirit) a willing agent, not a random force.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
listless (without desire/energy -- the negative form preserves the 'desire' root)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV John 3:8 -- 'The wind bloweth where it listeth'; James 3:4 -- 'Whithersoever the governor listeth'
Died ~1700
The verb 'list' meaning 'to wish/desire/please/choose' (from Old English lystan 'to desire') died entirely, replaced by 'list' as 'an enumeration of items.' The desire meaning left no trace.
What Replaced It
“wishes”
Arbitrary; listeth implied a sovereign, self-determined desire -- choosing from authority, not whimsy
“pleases”
Subjective; listeth carried the weight of sovereign will -- it pleased the wind because the wind is its own master
“wills”
Closest but formal; listeth was immediate and vivid -- the wind desires to blow there, so it does