Archaic KJV Word
Silly
Modern equivalent: foolish
What Was Lost
The idea that blessedness and vulnerability were the same condition. The silly (blessed) person was also the exposed, undefended one -- holy innocence made you pitiable in a fallen world. The word's decline traces the cultural loss of the idea that divine favor and worldly vulnerability go together.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
German selig ('blessed/blissful' -- the cognate that preserved the original meaning)
Peak Usage (1200)
Middle English translations and pre-KJV religious texts -- 'silly sheep' meaning 'blessed/innocent sheep'; traces in KJV via related Germanic heritage
Died ~1600 (already shifting by KJV era)
One of English's longest semantic falls: from 'blessed/holy' (Old English saelig) to 'innocent' to 'pitiable' to 'simple-minded' to 'foolish.' Each step was a small slide; the total distance was enormous.
What Replaced It
“blessed”
The original meaning; silly was the English word for divine favor before French influence elevated 'blessed'
“innocent”
An intermediate stage; silly-as-innocent carried vulnerability alongside purity
“foolish”
The modern landing point -- a complete inversion from divinely favored to mentally deficient