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Out of context: Reply #4508
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- grayhood0
The oldest phrase that has been in everyday use in English from its coinage until the present day appears to be 'woe is me'. This occurs in the the Bible, Old Testament in Job 10:15 in the form 'woe unto me'.
Job is one of the oldest books in the Old Testament, which dates from about 1200BC, making the phrase 3,200 years old.
The first English occurrence of it in English would have been Wycliffe's Bible translation in 1382.