Lexical and word-formation differences between the New Testament translation by John Purvey (1388) and the translators of the Douay-Rheims Bible (1582) against the background of the historical development of the English language

The main objective of the present thesis is to characterize lexical and word-formation differences in the New Testament translation by John Purvey (also known as the second version of the Wycliffite Bible, 1388) and the translators of the Douay-Rheims Bible (1582), with the focus on the differences which are believed to be influenced by the objective changes in the language. For this reason, the very analysis is preceded by two chapters, the first one identifying the subjective strategies of the translators and the second one describing the objective changes that occurred in the language during the two hundred years that separate the two Bibles. The comparison of the Wycliffite and Douay-Rheims Bible, which is also a contribution to a word-formation and lexical-semantic development from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, is based on four books of the New Testament, namely the Gospel of Mark, Acts of the Apostles, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and the Book of Revelation. The thesis also aims to assess the attitude of the translators towards their common source, the Latin Vulgate, but leaves aside the circumstances of religious controversy and its impact on the motivation and strategy of the translators. Another objective is to assess both translations as certain milestones in the..