Contact Clock Question Basket Search User Store Facebook Mail Instagram Twitter

William Tyndale and the English Language

by David Crystal

  

€ 31.25 

ISBN: 9781851246656

'Dearly beloved', 'say the word', 'the powers that be', 'for ever and ever' - these familiar phrases and many more were set down in print for the first time by William Tyndale. For his groundbreaking English translation of the Bible, he deliberately chose to write in a way that could be understood by the widest possible audience.



In the first half of this pioneering exploration of the extraordinary impact Tyndale's writing had on the development of the English language, David Crystal provides an analysis of his prose style, demonstrating its character as a novel genre of 'written speech', and bringing to light the remarkable number of cases where Tyndale is the first recorded user of a word or phrase in English. He also draws attention to the hitherto unrecognised role of Tyndale as an early lexicographer. The second half of the book is a linguistic detective story, devising an innovative lexical and grammatical metric to investigate the often-stated claim that eighty per cent of later biblical translations display Tyndale's influence.



The result is a fascinating exploration of the work of the Father of the English Bible.

248 pages.

Not Yet Published.

Printed on or after 12/03/26. Please note dispatch may take 5-10 days after publication date.
A separate order should be placed for this item. If you order this along with other items, your entire order will be held and despatched when complete.

Date of Publication: 12/03/2026

Cover of William Tyndale and the English Language - David Crystal - 9781851246656Hardback

William Tyndale and the English Language also appears in these Categories:

Literary Criticism