[HeadStrongBoy]

I would like to know how the Roman Catholic Church wrote the phrase HOLY BIBLE during the time when LATIN was the predominant language of the CLERGY. A distinct possibility is that THEY NEVER DID. Because books were too expensive at that time for the general public. And most ordinary people did not know how to read Latin. For that reason the PRIMARY SOURCE OF DOCTRINE had to be the CHURCH HIERARCHY rather than the HOLY BIBLE ITSELF. Is that how it was ?

I have looked up the word BIBLE with online Latin Dictionaries. The results are:BIBLIA, BIBLIAE, BIBLIUM, BIBLII. From the same source I have also looked up the word HOLY. SACER, SACRA, SACRUM, SANCTUS, SANCTA. My problem is putting them together CORRECTLY. I am aware that Latin has specific rules having to do with DECLENSION. This means that NOUNS, PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES must be made to match in regard to categories such as CASE, NUMBER and GENDER.

I could GUESS by trying different MIX and MATCH COMBINATIONS. For example: BIBLIA SANCTA OR SANCTA BIBLIA OR SACRUM BIBLIUM OR BIBLIUM SACRUM. But those are mere guesses and they may be totally ridiculous when a REAL EXPERT looks at them.

So is anybody out there who can direct me to a satisfying and CORRECT answer ?

[Wondergirl]

Biblia Sacra

In Latin, the noun ("biblia") goes first, and the adjective ("sacra") follows it. The noun ends in "a" because the noun is feminine. The word is singular. The adjective agrees in gender and number.

P.S. I'm a Tar Heel too -- born in Kinston and grew up in Taylorsville.