1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NASB): Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
I was taught rapture originated in this phrase "caught up." I thiink it really does after some consideration, but idk lol.
Greek
The word for "caught up" is ἁρπάζω harpazō, "to seize, catch up, snatch away, carry off by force."
ἁρπάζω is also used when Jesus says no one will snatch his sheep out of his hand (John 10:28), when the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away after the eunuch's baptism, when the tribune had soldiers take Paul away by force (Acts 23:10), and when Paul describes a brother who was "caught up into paradise" and heard unutterable things (2 Corinthians 12:2).
(Literal Word, a NASB Android Bible app)
Latin
1 Thessalonians 4:17 (Biblia Sacra Vulgata): Deinde nos, qui vivimus, qui relinquimur, simul rapiemur cum illis in nubibus obviam Christo in aera, et sic semper cum Domino erimus.
Various online sources and what I've heard in Bible classes say the Greek word was translated to rapturo or raptura in Latin versions, but the Latin copies I see online specifically use rapiemur, "To snatch, grap[sic], take away." The Latin Dictionary has it as a conjugation of a word whose main forms are rapio, rapere, rapui, and raptus. (http://latindictionary.wikidot.com/verb:rapere)
Searching backwards, the Olivetti Online Latin Dictionary has rapturo as one of the future participle forms of rapio, so the word in the Vulgate is closely related.
I don't know any Latin, though, so who knows? As a note, the Vulgate was the official Latin Bible. Other Latin translations preceded it, but I'm having trouble finding the Vetus Latina and various Latin codices online for comparison. Vulgate Rapiemur really does seem to conjugate into something like rapture, though, so I can see a connection.
English
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (Wycliffe): Afterward we that lyuen, that ben left, schulen be rauyschid togidere with hem in cloudis, metinge Crist `in to the eir; and so euere more we schulen be with the Lord.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (Tyndale): then shall we which live and remayne be caught vp with them also in the cloudes to mete the Lorde in ye ayer. And so shall we ever be with the Lorde.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (1599 Geneva): Then shall we which live and remain, be caught up with them also in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Then the story is, we got English term "rapture" from the Latin. I haven't seen "raptured up" in any translation (unless that's what rauyschid is supposed to mean???), so I'm guessing either someone coined the name from the Latin or the word was common enough in English already and came to also be used for the rapture. A shallow search didn't clear that up, though.
You can read the Rapture article to see it's been apparently used even by Puritans, but William Miller and J. N. Darby are the men deeply influential on our modern understanding of the rapture. So, unfortunately as a concept, the origin of the rapture is unclear and obscured by strong bias. The mystery is still out there as to how the name was decided!
When I think of our language being influenced by Bible translations, I usually think of the King James Version (labor of love, etc). It'd be cool if we use a word from the Vulgate. It sounds like a reasonable story, too, so I believe it!