Archaic KJV Word
Nice
Modern equivalent: pleasant
What Was Lost
The entire journey from ignorance through precision to pleasantness shows how English can evacuate a word completely. For scripture study, the key loss is the 'precise/discriminating' meaning that was active in the 1611 era -- careful, exact theological distinctions were 'nice' distinctions.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
nicety ('a fine/precise point' -- preserves the 'precise/delicate' stage)
Peak Usage (1400)
Pre-KJV English religious and legal texts -- 'nice distinctions' meaning 'precise/fine distinctions'; from Latin nescius 'ignorant'
Died ~1800 (final shift to purely positive)
The most-traveled word in English: ignorant > foolish > shy > delicate > precise > agreeable > pleasant. Each century picked up a new meaning and dropped the old one.
What Replaced It
“pleasant”
The final, bland landing point -- all specificity drained away
“precise”
The 1611-era meaning that survives in 'nice distinction' -- carefully discriminating
“foolish”
The original Latin meaning of ignorance, completely inverted into a compliment