Archaic KJV Word
Wot
Modern equivalent: know
What Was Lost
The last native English verb for knowing. When Abimelech said 'I wot not,' he used the same verb root that gave us wisdom, witness, and wit. English replaced its own word for knowing with a French import and lost the etymological web connecting knowledge, wisdom, and witness as facets of one concept.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
to wit (the phrase 'to wit' meaning 'namely/that is to say' preserves the verb as a fossil)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Genesis 21:26 -- 'I wot not who hath done this thing'; Acts 3:17 -- 'I wot that through ignorance ye did it'
Died ~1700
Present tense of 'wit' (to know), died alongside wist. English lost its native Germanic verb for knowing, relying entirely on the French-derived 'know.'
What Replaced It
“know”
French import; wot was the native English word for knowledge, from the same root as German wissen and Latin videre