Descry (Hastings' Dictionary)
'Describe' and 'descry' are both from Lat. d'scribcre, tlie former immediately, the lattei through the old Pr. dc.irrire. And in earlier Eng. their meanings were often very close, to 'descry' being to 'reveal, 'even as late as MiIton,Con)U(,141— And to the tcll-tnic Sun deiory Our concealed Bolcmiiity.' 596 DESERT DEUTERONOMY But Milton uses the word also in the sense of re- connoitre, as Par. Lost, vi. 530^ * And scouts each coast light-armed Booar, Each quarter, to descry the distant foe.'
This is the meaning of ' descry ' in AV, where it occurs only .Ig 1-^ ' And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel ' ('i'n;l, RV ' sent to spy out '). J. Hastings.
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Descry
Descry de-skri': This word like "describe" came into the English through the French descrire (Latin, describere); it occurs only in the King James Version of Jg 1:23: "And the house of Joseph sent to Bethel." tur the verb thus translated, signifies "to explore" or "examine," and the Revised Version (British and American) correctly renders "sent to spy out." ⇒See the definition of descry in the KJV Dictionary
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia