Archaic KJV Word
Parable
Modern equivalent: simple teaching story
What Was Lost
The concealment. Jesus explicitly said He spoke in parables so that outsiders would NOT understand (Mark 4:11-12). Parables were not simplified teachings but encrypted messages -- clear to insiders, opaque to outsiders. They were designed to provoke, subvert, and overturn, not to make things easy.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
parable (still used but understood as 'simple teaching story' rather than 'subversive riddle')
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Matthew 13:34 -- 'All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables'; Mark 4:11 -- 'Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables'
Died still used but story-ified (~1800)
Hebrew mashal and Greek parabole ('comparison thrown alongside/riddle/proverb/dark saying designed to simultaneously reveal and conceal') reduced to 'a simple story with a moral lesson.' The subversive, riddle-like, kingdom-concealing dimension was lost to Sunday school.
What Replaced It
“story”
Narrative entertainment; parables were designed to divide hearers -- insiders understood, outsiders did not
“illustration”
Clarifying example; parables often made things more confusing, not less
“moral tale”
Simple lesson; parables were subversive riddles that overturned expectations