Why is it that for the purposes of English composition one word is not so
good as another? To this question we shall get a general answer if we
examine the effect of certain classes of expressions.

PRESENT USE.--Let us examine first the effect produced by three
passages in the authorized version of the English Bible--a version made by
order of King James in 1611:--

"For these two years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are
five years, in the which there shall neither be _earing_ nor harvest"
(Gen. xlv. 6).

"O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long
will ye love vanity, and seek after _leasing_?" (Psa. iv. 2).

"Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed
to come unto you, but was _let_ hitherto" (Rom. i. 18).

See also Gen. xxv. 29; Matt. iii 8; Acts viii. 3; 1 Thess. iv. 15.

An ordinary reader of our time cannot without assistance fully understand
these passages, because the words "earing," "leasing," and "let" convey to
his mind either no idea at all or a wrong idea. Two hundred and eighty
years ago, when this translation of the Bible was made, these words were
common words with plain meanings; but "earing" and "leasing" have since
dropped out of common use, and "let" has acquired a different meaning;
consequently an ordinary reader of the present time must consult a
dictionary before he can be sure what the passages mean. Words and
meanings which have gone out of use are called _obsolete_. There is not
much temptation to use obsolete words; but the temptation sometimes comes.