Showing posts with label cadbury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cadbury. Show all posts

Thursday, February 10, 2011

"Veriest" conjecture

I was re-reading one of my favourite books about Jesus, H. J. Cadbury's The Perils of Modernizing Jesus (New York: Macmillan, 1937), and I enjoyed his use of a word that has fallen out of favour in academic writing, "veriest", as in:
Of the motives of his own action we must admit that we are left to the veriest conjecture" (Perils, 151)
I really like "veriest" and I like "veriest conjecture" even more. A quick google search suggests that the phrase is indeed somewhat archaic, with instances occurring early in the 20th century but falling into disuse thereafter. I might see if I can sneak it into my writing somewhere.