Archaic KJV Word
Publish
Modern equivalent: proclaim
What Was Lost
The vocal, irrepressible dimension. The healed leper 'began to publish it much' -- he could not stop telling everyone he met. He was not submitting a manuscript but broadcasting his healing from the rooftops with his own voice. Publishing the name of the Lord meant shouting it, singing it, proclaiming it in the assembly.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
make public (the literal meaning of publish -- to make known to the public)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Mark 1:45 -- 'He went out, and began to publish it much'; Deuteronomy 32:3 -- 'I will publish the name of the Lord'
Died ~1800 (the 'proclaim aloud' meaning faded)
Narrowed from 'to proclaim publicly/announce/spread the word by voice' to 'to print and distribute written material,' shifting from a vocal, public act to an industrial process.
What Replaced It
“proclaim”
Formal; publish-as-proclaim was urgent, personal, and irrepressible
“spread the word”
Casual; publish carried the weight of a public, deliberate announcement
“announce”
Official; publish was spontaneous -- bursting with news you could not contain