Begat [electronic resource]

What do the following have in common?Let there be light - A fly in the ointment - A rod of iron - New wine in old bottlesLick the dust - How are the mighty fallen - Kick against the pricks - Wheels within wheelsThey are all in the King James Bible. This astonishing book ""has contributed far more to English in the way of idiomatic or quasi-proverbial expressions than any other literary source."" So wrote David Crystal in 2004. In Begat he returns to the subject not only to consider how a work published in 1611 could have had such influence on the language, but how it can still do so when few r