These kind of things make interesting language study, whether considering biblical words or just words in general. Many words that we think have changed meaning often have not. At least some of them came into the language separately, and have been homonyms without our knowing it.
I was thinking the same thing. Yet our school continues to buy the little mass market paperback type dictionaries while I wonder which children actually use them. They all have cell phones and ipads.
In Galatians 5:7, Tyndale's New Testament, Coverdale's, Matthew's, Coverdale's Duoglott, Great Bible, Geneva Bible, and Bishops' Bible used "let" while the KJV updated it with "hinder."
The makers of the KJV also changed the "let" in Acts 8:36 in Tyndale's, Matthew's, Great, Geneva, and Bishops' Bibles to "hinder."
Again the KJV replaced the "let" at Romans 15:22 in some pre-1611 English Bibles with "hinder."
At 1 Peter 3:7, "let" in Tyndale's, Matthew's, and Whittingham's was changed to "hindered."
Ha, that reminds me of when Logos1560 was posting 'variant renderings' he'd found in some KJV.
Turns out it was a dollar store publisher out of Taiwan.
"And how do you know that? Did you ask most of the KJV users what they understood "let" in that context means?
"Can we see the research you published showing that most KJV users are less knowledgeable than you regarding English vocabulary?"
Is the OED a credible source? At some point, if they list a word meaning as archaic, I'm going to assume that most (50% +1) people aren't tracking the meaning. Obviously, someone who reads through the KJV annually may buck the trend.
As a mentor of post-college students, I have a different perspective. If I use a word they don't know, they may ask. This is rare because I hardly ever used words they don't know, except to explain them.
However, they repeatedly use words in their writing thinking they know the meaning but don't; they hardly ever ask me in advance what is the correct word. I have to tell them they've chosen the wrong word and explain why.
This is not an uncommon problem among even accomplished writers, in my experience. Really good writers must have a certain amount of confidence in their abilities; unfortunately, they often overestimate their competence in diction because they are adept in style. Entirely different things.
The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between the lightning and a lightning bug, Mark Twain is supposed to have said. Whether he said it or not, it's true.
The OED is the foremost treasury of the English language. I would recommend The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary.
But when the WHOLE THING is antiquated & archaic...
I fully believe GOD causes/allows changes to occur in all languages, including English, and that He causes His word to be translated into current editions of the various languages. We are blessed to have both older and newer English Bible translations readily available.God wants us to understand His word. It's not coded nor "classified". it's much-more-easily understood by English users in MODERN language.
So I’m what Franklin Graham would call an infant Christian. both the Niv and the New King James have served me well. I see no reason to go to King James