Archaic KJV Word
Prevent
Modern equivalent: go before
What Was Lost
The image of eagerly running ahead of an event to meet it. 'I prevented the dawning' meant the psalmist rose before dawn in passionate anticipation of meeting God -- not that he stopped the sun from rising.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
forestall (retains the going-ahead-of sense but adds the blocking meaning)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Psalm 119:147 -- 'I prevented the dawning of the morning'
Died ~1700
Complete meaning reversal. 'Prevent' shifted from 'go before/anticipate' (Latin praevenire) to 'stop from happening,' making scripture passages nonsensical to modern readers.
What Replaced It
“precede”
Merely temporal; prevent-as-go-before carried eager anticipation and active preparation
“anticipate”
Mental expectation only; prevent implied physical action of going ahead to prepare the way
“go before”
Flat description; prevent carried the urgency of rushing ahead