decern vs judge

decern

verb
  • Decree by judicial sentence that something be done. 

  • transferred sense 

  • Decree a person etc. to be or to do something by judicial sentence.  (in the phrase “to decern in”, obsolete) To mulct in by decree of court. 

  • intransitive 

  • with simple object 

  • See distinctly (with the eyes or the mind); distinguish (an object or fact); discern. 

judge

verb
  • To judicially rule or determine. 

  • To govern as biblical judge or shophet (over some jurisdiction). 

  • To form an opinion; to infer. 

  • To arbitrate; to pass opinion on something, especially to settle a dispute etc. 

  • To sit in judgment, to act as judge. 

  • To form an opinion on; to appraise. 

  • To sit in judgment on; to pass sentence on (a person or matter). 

  • To have as an opinion; to consider, suppose. 

  • To criticize or label another person or thing. 

noun
  • A person who decides the fate of someone or something that has been called into question. 

  • A person who evaluates something or forms an opinion. 

  • A person officiating at a sports event, a contest, or similar. 

  • A public official whose duty it is to administer the law, especially by presiding over trials and rendering judgments; a justice. 

  • A shophet, a temporary leader appointed in times of crisis in ancient Israel. 

How often have the words decern and judge occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )