biblical (adj.)

"旧约和新约的圣经"，早在14世纪就来自盎格鲁拉丁语 biblia，13世纪的古法语 bible "圣经"，也指一般的大书，来自中世纪和晚期拉丁语 biblia "圣经"（中性复数被解释为女性单数），来自 biblia sacra "圣书"的短语，这是希腊语 ta biblia to hagia "圣书"的翻译。拉丁词来自希腊词 biblion "纸张，卷轴"，也是“作为更大作品的一部分的书”的普通词汇； 参见 biblio-。

基督教经文在公元223年左右就被称为希腊语 Ta Biblia。 Bible 取代了古英语 biblioðece（参见 bibliothec)，成为“圣经”的普通词汇。"任何权威书籍"的比喻意义始于1804年。Bible-thumper "严格的基督徒"来自1870年。Bible belt 指美国南部基督教原教旨主义者主导的地区，始于1926年； 可能是由 H.L.门肯创造的。

Her first husband was a missionary to China, and died miserably out there, leaving her with a small baby and no funds. Her second seems to have left her nearly as quickly, though under his own steam: her souvenir was another infant. For years she toured the Bible Belt in a Ford, haranguing the morons nightly under canvas. [H.L. Mencken, review of Aimee Semple McPherson's "In the Service of the King: The Story of My Life," The American Mercury, April 1928]

她的第一任丈夫是一位中国传教士，在那里痛苦地死去，留下了一个小婴儿和没有资金。她的第二任丈夫似乎离开得也很快，尽管是自己的力量：她的纪念品是另一个婴儿。多年来，她在一辆福特车上巡回演出，每晚在帐篷下向白痴们演讲。[H.L.门肯，《美国水银报》，1928年4月]

Walter Scott and Pope's Homer were reading of my own election, but my mother forced me, by steady daily toil, to learn long chapters of the Bible by heart; as well as to read it every syllable through, aloud, hard names and all, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, about once a year; and to that discipline — patient, accurate, and resolute — I owe, not only a knowledge of the book, which I find occasionally serviceable, but much of my general power of taking pains, and the best part of my taste in literature. ... [O]nce knowing the 32nd of Deuteronomy, the 119th Psalm, the 15th of 1st Corinthians, the Sermon on the Mount, and most of the Apocalypse, every syllable by heart, and having always a way of thinking with myself what words meant, it was not possible for me, even in the foolishest times of youth, to write entirely superficial or formal English .... [John Ruskin, "Fors Clavigera," 1871]

沃尔特·斯科特和蒲柏的荷马是我自己选的读物，但是我的母亲通过每天的刻苦劳动，强迫我背诵长篇章节的圣经，每年大约一次，从创世记到启示录，每个音节都要大声朗读，包括难读的名字； 我不仅因此了解了这本书，发现它偶尔有用，而且还有很多关于我的耐心、准确和决心的一面，以及我在文学方面最好的品味。...[O]nce knowing the 32nd of Deuteronomy, the 119th Psalm, the 15th of 1st Corinthians, the Sermon on the Mount, and most of the Apocalypse, every syllable by heart, and having always a way of thinking with myself what words meant, it was not possible for me, even in the foolishest times of youth, to write entirely superficial or formal English .... [约翰·拉斯金，《Fors Clavigera》，1871年]

复合形容词词缀，通常可以与 -ic 互换，但有时具有专门的意义（例如 historic/historical， politic/political），中古英语，源自晚期拉丁语 -icalis，源自拉丁语 -icus + -alis（见 -al（1））。可能是因为 -ic 形式常常具有名词意义（例如 physic），所以需要这种形式。在英语中， -ical 形式往往比其对应的 -ic 形式更早出现。