Douay-Rheims Holy Bible

HOLY BIBLE CATHOLIC

DOUAY RHEIMS CATHOLIC BIBLE

The Douay-Rheims differed from many earlier English translations in its preference for borrowing words from Latin, instead of using native English words. Part of the reason for this was that, in that period, English did not have the precise vocabulary which Latin possessed, so that English translations required the addition of extra words, or explanatory notes, to make the meaning of the English as clear as that of the Latin original; but the authors of the Douay-Rheims translation saw this insertion of additional plain English words as a means of inserting the translator's agenda, which they sought to avoid. The translators of the KJV used the Rheims New Testament of 1582 as a source for the KJV; they adopted some of the Latin borrowings from the Rheims NT, but avoided other more inkhorn ones. The KJV thus sought to strike a medium between the non-Latinate extreme of earlier English translations and the definitely Latinate extreme of the Douay-Rheims. As a result, many of the borrowings from Latin devised by the Douay-Rheims translators eventually came, through the KJV, to be considered standard English.

However, due to the obscure Latinate vocabulary of the original Douay-Rheims, it is very much incomphrehensible to modern readers, or even readers of its own day who were not familiar with Latin. Thus, Challoner in his revision removed much of the more obscure Latinate vocabulary, and also modernised the spelling and the grammar. Challoner undertook his revision with reference to the Latin Vulgate, but also he drew much of his wording from the KJV. Thus, as much as the Douay-Rheims influenced the KJV, in the Challoner revision the KJV came to influence the Douay-Rheims.