Introduction

Anyone who gets involved in Quakerism notices that it comes with its own special vocabulary.  As might be expected, this includes names for institutions, practices and religious concepts peculiar to Quakerism (clearness committee, Light Within) — but also distinctive ways of referring to mundane matters such as the buildings in which we worship, or the days of the week.  We also have a surprising number of proverbs and familiar quotations, the origins of which are not always well-known.

I’ve had an interest in Quaker history for some time, and one thing I’ve noticed in reading older Quaker literature is that certain items of Quaker vocabulary are conspicuous in their absence from older material.  This is all the more noticeable with terms that are archaic-sounding and widely perceived to be traditional (meeting for worship with a concern for business).  Other terms have changed their meanings over the centuries, in ways most Friends seem to be completely unaware.

I’m a professional linguist, and none of this is surprising to me — words are always changing their meanings, and we can’t expect Quaker vocabulary to be any different.  But the details of particular cases can be surprising, and even fascinating, for those of us with an interest both in Quaker history and in language.

My plan is to investigate the history of various peculiarly Quaker expressions, and post the results in this blog.   I welcome comments, corrections, and all kinds of discussion.  A wide variety of older Quaker materials is now available in searchable form on the Internet, making the task of tracing the history of lexical items much easier.  This can be a collaborative project if others are interested!  Just let me know.