Latest Vital Sparks. Thou art pitiful and kind: Semantic drift in The Sacred Harp, part 1

[Will Fitzgerald]

My latest Vital Sparks, thanks to Rowan Simms.

Vital Sparks: Thou art pitiful and kind

Semantic Drift in The Sacred Harp, part 1

Find it at: https://vitalsparks.beehiiv.com/p/vital-sparks-thou-art-pitiful-and-kind

And send me your examples!

Best,

Will

[Karen Willard]

The tune PISGAH is on pg 58 in the Cooper Sacred Harp and the phrase with the Denson word "bowels" says "in the fullness of thy love".

Karen Willard

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[Will Fitzgerald]

Karen,

Do you know when that change was first made in the Cooper edition? 

Will

[Karen Willard]

It is that way in the very first edition, 1902.

Karen

[Matt Bell]

Great example on Arbacoochee.  Not in the SH, but there's also this one: https://hymnary.org/text/lord_at_thy_feet_in_dust_i_lie  "O may thy bowels move."

Matt Bell

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[Brady Santoro]

I would contend that the greatest Dr. Watts-ism of them all can be found in the rather infamous "Cha­ri­ty to the poor; or, pi­ty to the af­flict­ed", from his 1719 edition of the Psalms (here Psalm 41, as also rendered, with less pathos, in the Old and New Versions). With the revival chorus "Halle, hallelujah, my God has set me free" that is sometimes added to this song, it is very clear why the speaker is "afflicted". He expresses, of course, a very noble sentiment in this text and one that is quite true to the original, but as our friends at Hymnary.org have demonstrated, it would be hard to use this hymn in contemporary worship, as heartfelt as it may be. For those of you who are well familiar with this gem, here it is again, but if you have not encountered it before, below are the first two verses.

Blest is the man whose bow­els move,
And melt with pi­ty to the poor,
Whose soul by sym­pa­thiz­ing love,
Feels what his fel­low saints en­dure.

His heart con­trives for their re­lief
More good than his own hands can do;
He in the time of ge­ne­ral grief,
Shall find the Lord has bow­els, too.

In the bowels of mutual love,

B.

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[Jim Pfau]

When I pointed this out to one of our local singers many years ago, he shouted out, in mock astonishment, "COOPER'S GOT NO BOWELS!"

Jim

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[Micah Walter]

Thank you, Will, for starting this interesting discussion!

I'd like to turn my attention away from more obvious cases towards the more subtle instances of semantic drift that pervade the texts in The Sacred Harp. There are many words for which the drift is relatively small, or for which the meaning in The Sacred Harp is not actually obsolete, just not as common in modern North American usage. As someone who has in fact been immersed in older writings from a young age, and for whom most of these instances of drift don't even register unless I actively think about it, I probably fail to appreciate how striking they may be to some other singers, or perhaps even how much of the sense of the words is lost in translation.

Here's a short list, just from going through some songs in my own mind. Again, most of these meanings are still alive in certain contexts or expressions, but I imagine there are also many English speakers who wouldn't arrive at these meanings without consciously thinking about it.

alternate (accent on second syllable) – alternating
bar – place of judgment
breast – chest; heart (metaphorical)
confess – speak out
conspire – join together (neutral connotation)
corn – grain
fix – establish
gay – merry
nor – and not
past – passed (a past participial form that is starting to adopt its ossified meaning)
proper – own
quick – living
quit – leave
remove – leave
set (in SERMON ON THE MOUNT) – seated
severe – stern
shade(s) – region(s) of darkness; shadow(s)
shrink – cower, retreat
sure – secure
vain – empty

Of course, semantic drift is completely separate from the question of grammatical change – another topic altogether, although the two sometimes work in tandem!

Micah

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[Barry Johnston]

From the Preface to the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, 1971:

"A major reason for revision of the King James Version, which is valid for both the Old Testament and the New Testament, is the change since 1611 in English usage. Many forms of expression have become archaic, while still generally intelligible—the use of thou, thee, thy, thine and the verb endings -est and -edst, the verb endings -eth and -th, it came to pass that, whosoever, whatsoever, insomuch that, because that, for that, unto, howbeit, peradventure, holden, aforetime, must needs, would fain, behooved, to you-ward, etc. Other words are obsolete and no longer understood by the common reader. The greatest problem, however, is presented by the English words which are still in constant use but now convey a different meaning from that which they had in 1611 and in the King James Version. These words were once accurate translations of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures; but now, having changed in meaning, they have become misleading. They no longer say what the King James translators meant them to say.

Thus, the King James Version uses the word “let” in the sense of “hinder,” “prevent” to mean “precede,” “allow” in the sense of “approve,” “communicate” for “share,” “conversation” for “conduct,” “comprehend” for “overcome,” “ghost” for “spirit,” “wealth” for “well-being,” “allege” for “prove,” “demand” for “ask,” “take no thought” for “be not anxious,” etc."

At least this may provide some additions to your word list. I hope this is helpful in your discussion.

The KJV was dominant in English-speaking countries from its first publication in 1611 at least until the 1950s, and remains influential today. The KJV has been a most influential book on the English language, and of course influential on the faith of many Christians. But the KJV was dependent on the first printed English Bible, that of William Tyndale, first edition of the New Testament in 1528. It is estimated that 80-85% of the words in the KJV New Testament are from Tyndale (Tyndale's New Testament, Second Edition 1534, edited by David Daniell, Yale University Press, 1989). In a few years some of us will celebrate the 500th anniversary of this landmark publication.

Barry Johnston

Gunnison, Colorado, USA