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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Page 2 of 2 1 2 Re: when did "He" become "he" when referring to God? morphememedley #176105 04/20/08 06:03 PM Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,295 Netherlands, the Hague BranShea Carpal Tunnel BranShea Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 5,295 Netherlands, the Hague  Originally Posted By: morphememedley The capitalization issue could get more controversial if many readers conclude that not keeping He upper case drops the antecedent to the level of a mortal's proper name such as Henry. Avoiding using God and a corresponding pronoun might be easy enough in most news reporting, but quotations containing both necessitate a style choice for hard copy and web text reporting. How will CNN and others in news reporting handle the capitalization issue? Web searchers will keep a vigil. Henry had no problem with the decapitatelization of wives and wayward subjects. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter he said, she said PDAZ #176106 04/20/08 06:07 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,819 Spam Factory A Alex Williams OP Pooh-Bah OP Alex Williams Pooh-Bah A Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,819 Spam Factory As the one who originally started the thread, I should point out that I don't ask out of any sort of offended religiosity. I was simply curious. Nor do I need any sort of politically-correct re-education on matters of theology, although I am thankful to at least receive such lectures without having to pay tuition. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: when did "He" become "he" when referring to God? BranShea #176109 04/20/08 11:45 PM Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 1,067 Tasmania The Pook old hand The Pook old hand Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 1,067 Tasmania  Originally Posted By: BranShea Henry had no problem with the decapitalization of wives and wayward subjects. hahahaha - very droll (hmmm...is that short for headroll?) Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: an answer offered zmjezhd #176110 04/20/08 11:49 PM Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 1,067 Tasmania The Pook old hand The Pook old hand Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 1,067 Tasmania  Originally Posted By: zmjezhd The real question is not when did it cease but when did it begin? So true. It's simply a stylistic convention. Here's an image of a 14th century MS of the John Wycliffe (d.1384) translation of the Gospel of St John (link). The only capital visible is the one that starts the first chapter of the book. That was the style then. Interestingly enough, in the few transcribed versions of this passage which I consulted, the capitalization usage of today is used (link). Moving along to the Early Modern English period, looking at the William Tyndale (ca.1494–1536) translation (1526) of the same book (link) shows no capitalization for the word god either. By the time (1539) of the Great Bible by Myles Cloverdale (sic)(1488–1568), we find capitalization (link). There are other English translations of the Bible to investigate, but I leave that as an exercise to the reader. So, the answer is probably sometime in the early 16th century. That's very interesting history, thanks for that excellent detective work. I wonder where it came into English from? Was it a renaissance invention? Was it applied first to Latin? Did Coverdale invent it himself? Or did it come from German? Did Luther's German translation have capitals? Unfortunately I have no time to investigate these fascinating footnotes in history further at the present moment! Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Page 2 of 2 1 2 Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,915 Posts229,919 Members9,197 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members Bill_L, achz, MAGNVSTALSMA, Burlyfish, Renegade98 9,197 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 members (), 737 guests, and 3 robots. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 33 A C Bowden 29 LukeJavan8 4 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 10,910 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,948 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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