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All KJV Words

Archaic KJV Word

Patience

Modern equivalent: waiting calmly

What Was Lost

The two Greek words. Makrothymia was having a long fuse -- enduring provocation without retaliating. Hypomone was remaining under crushing pressure without buckling. Neither was passive. Both described active, costly, muscular endurance. 'Tribulation worketh patience' meant suffering built the spiritual muscle of active, unbending, weight-bearing endurance.

Closest Survivor in Modern English

patience (still used but stripped of the suffering-under-pressure, active-endurance dimension)

Peak Usage (1611)

KJV James 5:7 -- 'Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord'; Romans 5:3 -- 'Tribulation worketh patience'

Died still used but passivized (~1900)

Greek makrothymia ('long-tempered/having a long fuse/enduring under provocation without retaliating') and hypomone ('remaining under pressure/bearing up under crushing weight') passivized into 'waiting without complaining.'

What Replaced It

waiting

Passive time-spending; patience was active endurance under real suffering

tolerance

Accepting what you don't like; patience was bearing crushing weight without collapsing or retaliating

calm

Emotional state; patience was a fierce, determined act of will to endure

Related KJV Words