A Tyndale A - Z
2026 marks the 500th anniversary of a work that changed the English language forever, and had a profound impact on subsequent writers, including Shakespeare. William Tyndale's masterpiece English New Testament, the first complete New Testament translation from the original Greek into English, was published in 1526.
It’s all Greek to me!
I’ve been listening on Audible to ‘Tyndale’ by David Teems, which I recommend to fellow Word Nerds, as he dwells extensively on Tyndale’s influence on English language. Here’s a small selection of words Tyndale introduced to English in his translation – a Tyndale A-Z - well, almost!
Atonement, busybody, childishness, daughter-in-law, excommunicate, fellowship, godly, hand-breadth, inexcusable, Jehovah, long-suffering, mediocrity, network, ourselves, peacemaker, rose-coloured, scapegoat, taskmaster, two-edged, uproar, viper, weakling, yoke-fellow, zealous.
Can you imagine England without zealous busybodies scapegoating their long-suffering neighbours and causing an uproar?
Better still are the phrases Tyndale coined; again, a small selection: a broken heart; a cross to bear; a nest of vipers; baptism of fire; breath of life; fall from grace; fat of the land; fight the good fight; gave up the ghost; in the twinkling of an eye; law unto themselves; salt of the earth; sign of the times; the apple of his eye; the powers that be; the wisdom of Solomon. Am I my brother’s keeper? He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. It’s better to give than to receive. Seek and you shall find. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
I hope the tabloid press appreciates Tyndale. Where would journalists be without the nest of vipers at Westminster falling from grace or undergoing a baptism of fire?
A full edition of Tyndale’s New Testament was first printed in 1526 in Worms, Germany. Copies were allegedly smuggled into England and Scotland by putting pages in between other books. The translation was condemned in October 1526 by Bishop Tunstall, who issued warnings to booksellers, bought up all the available copies, and had them burned in public, causing some controversy even among those most faithful to the church authorities. In 1529, Cardinal Wolsey condemned Tyndale as a heretic. And in 1536, Tyndale was finally condemned and executed in the Netherlands, by being strangled to death while tied to the stake and then burned.
We’ll never know whether Tyndale’s final words truly were, "Lord! Open the King of England's eyes." Nevertheless, within four years of his death, a sequence of four English translations of the Bible (Miles Coverdale's, Thomas Matthew's, Richard Taverner's, and the Great Bible) were published in England at the king's behest, revising Tyndale's versions of the New Testament and Pentateuch with various “objectionable features” removed. Tyndale’s dearest wish was realised.
This may not look like readable English but it was 500 years ago.
Thankfully we now have a modern spelling version of Tyndale’s translation. This is the same passage as above.
Which is your favourite Tyndale word or phrase from the lists above? I think mine has to be, ‘in the twinkling of an eye.’ Please share yours in the comments.
