Mark Ward & the History of Its

Recently, YouTuber and author Mark Ward published a video titled False Friends Finale. If you're not aware, Mark Ward's "false friends" list is a list of words that you think you know which have a different meaning in the King James Bible. An example would be the word communication which means "ones manner of living" rather than having a verbal or written correspondence with someone. In his video, Mark Ward calls the word "his" a false friend. Yes, you read that correctly—"his," as in "His favorite dessert is cake." He states:

 

"False friend 145, 'his'...The Oxford English Dictionary reveals that the simple word 'its' ('i-t-s,' without an apostrophe) as a possessive pronoun did not enter English until some time after the King James was translated. It's kind of complicated because a related form did come in, but phrases like 'the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind' were not possible when the King James translators did their work."¹

While it's true that there were related forms, it's not true that "its" didn't appear before the King James. Prior to the KJV, there were three different words used to say "its." As we go through this post, we will see that. Let's begin by looking at one of the first instances of its' predecessor, "it."

"In Middle English, simple it sometimes was used as a neuter possessive pronoun".² The University of Michigan, in their Middle English Compendium, has seven different quotations from Middle English writings which use "it" in this way. One example is:

 

"I..fourmed..euery thyng in it degre."³

 

"It" is being used as possessive. This is just one example of it being used this way in Middle English.

Moving from Middle English over to Early Modern English, we see that this way of using "it" continues. In his play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses "it" in such a way.

"Yes Madam, yet I cannot chuse but laugh, to
thinke it should leaue crying, & say I: and yet I warrant
it had vpon it brow, a bumpe as big as a young Cockrels
stone?"⁴

This play is thought to have been written sometime between 1591 and 1595. It uses the possessive "it" in the phrase, "it had vpon it brow". In another Shakespearean play, The Tempest, written around 1610-11, it says this:

"Would I not haue: but Nature should bring forth
Of it owne kinde, all foyzon, all abundance
To feed my innocent people."⁵

We see "it" used as a possessive in Shakespeare's Henry V (~1599), Timon of Athens (~1606), and Winter's Tale (~1611).

"Alas, shee hath from France too long been chas'd,
And all her Husbandry doth lye on heapes,
Corrupting in it owne fertilitie."⁶

"A lacke of Timons ayde, hath since withall
Of it owne fall, restraining ayde to Timon..."⁷

"...Of our Dominions; and that there thou leaue it
(Without more mercy) to it owne protection..."

 

"My third comfort
(Star'd most vnluckily) is from my breast
(The innocent milke in it most innocent mouth)
Hal'd out to murther."⁸

We would put "its" in these places today, but apparently that was just fine in the late 16th to early 17th centuries. As such, even the 1611 King James Bible uses "it" in such a way.

"That which groweth of it owne accord of thy haruest, thou shalt not reape, neither gather the grapes of thy Uine vndressed: for it is a yeere of rest vnto the land." (Leviticus 25:5, 1611)

 

"That which groweth of it own accord of thy harvest, thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land." (Leviticus 25:5, 1638)

 

Interestingly, this reading also appears in the 1638 edition (I was not able to find a copy of the 1629). It says "it owne accord" which obviously would be its own accord (which is what later KJV editions, such as the 1762, say).

 

Leviticus 25:5 in the 1762 Parris KJV

 

Another form of "its" appears as "it's." Due to no standardized spelling, it is no different than the 1611 KJV having both "sonnes" and "sons." Around the time of the KJV's release, Shakespeare's The Tempest was written. This play uses the word "it's."

"...in my false brother
Awak'd an euill nature, and my trust
Like a good parent, did beget of him
A falsehood in it's contrarie, as great
As my trust was, which had indeede no limit,
A confidence sans bound."

 

"...Allaying both their fury, and my passion
With it's sweet ayre: thence I haue follow'd it..."⁵

"It's" is also used in Winter's Tale (1623), Henry VII, Part II (1591), and Henry VIII (~1603-13).

 

(Winter's Tale)

"How sometimes Nature will betray it's folly?
It's tendernesse? and make it selfe a Pastime
To harder bosomes? Looking on the Lynes
Of my Boyes face, me thoughts I did requoyle
Twentie three yeeres, and saw my selfe vn-breech'd,
In my greene Veluet Coat; my Dagger muzzel'd,
Least it should bite it's Master,"

 

"But beseech your Grace
Be plainer with me, let me know my Trespas
By it's owne visage; if I then deny it,
'Tis none of mine."

 

"I do beleeue
Hermione hath suffer'd death, and that
Apollo would (this being indeede the issue
Of King Polixenes) it should heere be laide
(Either for life, or death) vpon the earth
Of it's right Father."⁸

 

(Henry VII, Part II)

 

"Heere could I breath my soule into the ayre,
As milde and gentle as the Cradle-babe,
Dying with mothers dugge betweene it's lips."⁹

 

(Henry VIII)

 

"...Became the next dayes master, till the last
Made former Wonders, it's. To day the French..."¹⁰

 

While several of these are after 1611, there is the example from 1591. We know at least in the late 16th and early 17th centuries that "it's" could be possessive.

 

Now, finally, we actually do find "its" prior to the KJV, unlike Mark Ward claims. I know I have referenced Shakespeare quite a bit, but here is a quote from Measure for Measure.

"Heauen grant vs its peace, but not the King
of Hungaries."¹¹

The play was written some point between 1603 to 1604 (when it was first preformed). I do not know if the King James translators were theatergoers, because it wasn't printed until 1623.

 

Giovanni Florio, in 1603, published his translation of Michel de Montaigne's The Essays. While this work mostly used "it's" as a possessive neuter pronoun, there are two examples of this work using "its" instead. 

"...for, how much the more he shall close and presse that, which by its owne nature is ever gliding, so much the more he shall loose what he would hold and fasten."

"It may fortune, that we shut our selues vp,and further the stroake, beyond its bearing."¹²

We clearly find that "its" did in fact exist before the KJV! So the King James translators could have used it in their translation. They had the ability to use it—it existed. However, they chose not to. Why? Well, "In literary use, his as a neuter pronoun continued into the 17c."² In their time, "his" was used as a neuter in literary contexts.

Now, is it a false friend as Ward claims? I do not believe so. Firstly, and Mark admitted this, it is obvious that "his" in reference to an inanimate object is neuter! Secondly, having grown up on the KJV, it seemed obvious that masculine can be used to refer to more than just masculine things. For example, in John 3:18, it says, "He that believeth on him is not condemned". "He that" in the Greek is masculine, yet no one says only men are not condemned (unless you're a 2nd century Gospel of Thomas believer). It's obvious that it refers to both men and women. Just because someone could theoretically misunderstand "his" (even when context makes it clear whether it refers to purely masculine or not), that doesn't mean it's a false friend. Someone can misunderstand something basic in the NIV or ESV as well!

 

Sources:

1. "False Friends Finale." YouTube, uploaded by Mark Ward, 31 Dec. 2024, youtu.be/ylsS4RiyO68.

2. "Its." Online Etymology Dictionary, www.etymonline.com/word/its. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

3. "Hit." University of Michigan, quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english-dictionary/dictionary/MED20902/. Accessed 4 Jan. 2025.

4. Shakespeare, William. "Romeo and Juliet." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Rom_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

5. Shakespeare, William. "The Tempest." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Tmp_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

6. Shakespeare, William. "Henry V." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/H5_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

7. Shakespeare, William. "Timon of Athens." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/Tim_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

8. Shakespeare, William. "Winter's Tale." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/WT_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

9. Shakespeare, William. "Henry VII, Part II." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/2H6_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

10. Shakespeare, William. "Henry VIII." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/H8_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

11. Shakespeare, William. "Measure for Measure." University of Victoria, internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/MM_F1/complete/index.html. Accessed 1 Jan. 2025.

12. Montaigne, Michel de. The Essayes. Translated by Giovanni Florio, 1603. pp. 350, 561.