To capitalize or not to capitalize?

[Just Me 2021]

When referring to the Bible in text (like she opened her bible or she went to a bible study), should it be capitalized or not capitalized? Bible or bible?

Thanks, grammar experts.

 

[scarletpeaches]

I would capitalise, because 'bible' just means book of books, but here you're talking about the Bible and the capital B makes it stand out from all other books.

 

[Kathleen42]

I would capitalize major religious texts.

 

[Palmfrond]

Keep your Chicago Manual of Style right next to your Merriam-Webster 11th Edition and your Strunk and White. Capitalize it.

 

[IceCreamEmpress]

I would capitalise, because 'bible' just means book of books

It actually just means "book".

 

[Prawn]

I think it is plural: from encyclopedia.com

Bible the Holy Scriptures XIII. — (O)F. — ecclL. biblia, n. pl. taken as fem. sg. — Gr. (tà) biblía ‘(the) books’, pl. of biblíon, orig. dim. of bíblios, būblos papyrus, scroll.

What does that mean, Noun Plural taken as Fem Singular. Is it both singular AND plural? The singular is biblion.

Wiki says

"the neuter plural for Biblia (gen. bibliorum) gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun (biblia, gen. bibliae, in which singular form the word has passed into the languages of the Western world"

So it is a plural that turned singular.

 

[ideagirl]

I think it is plural: from encyclopedia.com

Bible the Holy Scriptures XIII. — (O)F. — ecclL. biblia, n. pl. taken as fem. sg. — Gr. (tà) biblía ‘(the) books’, pl. of biblíon, orig. dim. of bíblios, būblos papyrus, scroll.

What does that mean, Noun Plural taken as Fem Singular. Is it both singular AND plural? The singular is biblion.

In English "Bible" is singular. That entry is just about the Latin word, not the English one.

What that entry seems to mean is that in ecclesiastical (i.e. church) Latin, "Biblia" is treated as a feminine singular noun (one of many Latin feminine nouns that end in -a), whereas originally (in the original, Ancient Rome version of Latin), "biblia" was a neuter plural noun. Given the way Latin works, that would mean that originally the singular was probably "biblium" (like medium -> media: that's a neuter Latin singular -> plural pair). So, in Ancient Rome, "biblium" meant a book and "biblia" meant books.

The Bible was probably called "Biblia" because it was made up of several books (the book of Matthew, the book of Mark... the book of Revelations... etc.). But then the language evolved, people's usage of the word shifted a little bit, and in the Latin spoken in the church, it started getting treated like a feminine singular noun.

 

[Just Me 2021]

Thank you!