"Whoever" vs. "whosoever"

They are synonymous, however 'whosoever' is extremely archaic. literary and formal, and very rarely, if ever, used in modern English. It is usually seen in material such as old translations of the Christian Bible and literature from 200 years ago and before, and the only time when its use is required is when quoting directly from such material. If you want a rule, then it would be "don't use whosoever unless you have to"

I'm assuming this applies to "whomsoever" as well. It's interesting that "whatsoever" instead of "whatever" is still used somewhat commonly.

After looking thru a number of dictionaries the consensus seems to lean to an emphatic/formal whoever. Only one called it "an older form of whoever". I don't feel it is archaic.

I'll try to remember to do a corpus search later.

John 3:16

Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

I wrote: After looking thru a number of dictionaries the consensus seems to lean to an emphatic/formal whoever. Only one called it "an older form of whoever". I don't feel it is archaic.

The underlined "whoever" should have been 'whoSOever'.