# Use of the word "alway" instead of "always"



## Michael

The KJV uses both actually. Would someone please enlighten me on the grammatical reason(s) to choose one over the other? Or are they just arbitrarily interchangeable?


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## Skyler

Google-fu turns up this in a haven of "don't tamper with the original text of the KJV" nuts: 



> The world “always” means “at every time” and “on every occasion”, whereas the word “alway” means “all the time” and “perpetually”. For example, Jesus said, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:20b). Yet He also said, “but me ye have not always.” (John 12:8b). This is not a contradiction, since John is describing Jesus’ personal physical presence. Even though Jesus is not “always” on Earth by His own physical person, yet He is “alway” with His people on the Earth, for example, by the Holy Ghost and the Word.




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And I say that in all Christian love.


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## C. M. Sheffield

This is great. I've always noticed this but never thought to perform an enquiry into its significance. And since I'm a "KJV nut," this is really helpful!


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## JennyG

very interesting (speaking as another KJVN).
I always (or alway) thought they were just interchangeable variants, of the kind that are so useful for hymn-writers needing rhymes


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## Michael

Thanks Jonathan, that was helpful...


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## py3ak

Someone with an OED to hand should check it out. I'm hesitant to accept that such a precise nuance is borne out by usage without seeing some examples.


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## VictorBravo

py3ak said:


> Someone with an OED to hand should check it out. I'm hesitant to accept that such a precise nuance is borne out by usage without seeing some examples.


 
I don't have an OED, but I note that Noah Webster in 1928 did not make such a distinction. That dictionary seems to have a high view of the Bible. He equated "alway" to "always" and called it archaic and poetic, using an example from Job.


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## TimV

If it was archaic in 1928 it's not vulgar and is therefore not confessional.


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## py3ak

That's a non sequitur, Tim. Archaism can easily be part of vulgar speech.


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## nwink

I think PB should make an axe-to-grind emoticon for Tim to use on the "Translations and Manuscripts" threads.


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## TimV

Rather a tongue in cheek emoticon


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## athanatos

py3ak said:


> That's a non sequitur, Tim. Archaism can easily be part of vulgar speech.



More often than not, archaisms disappear from vulgar speech.


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## py3ak

athanatos said:


> More often than not, archaisms disappear from vulgar speech.



Do you have data to support that conclusion? A casual observer of vulgar speech can find examples of archaisms, including the dreaded second person singular, in a variety of media designed for a mass audience.


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## py3ak

A learned friend provided the following (slightly edited):

For the record, the OED does indeed note an original difference between the words: alway representing an accusative form of space or distance ("the whole way, time"), and always being a genitive case (distributively representing "at every time"). However, it notes that always came to replace alway in prose; and from the examples it gives, the change appears to have happened substantially before 1611 (for instance, it notes "always" being used for "alway" in 1380). Now, whether the KJV translators were trying to make a distinction, would be difficult to say.


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## Edward




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