Ask a Friend: Quaker Glossary and Terms
An email I received recently asked about finding a Quaker glossary of terms online.
This individual was looking specifically for an explanation of the Quaker use of the phrase “First Day” (what early Quakers, and some Quakers today still call “Sunday” so as to not call it by its Pagan name). Because there are any number of places one can find a glossary, I thought I’d share that response here as well.
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Hi Friend,
First, I’d try the glossary at Quaker.Org. Quaker.Org is always a good first stop for questions about Quakers like this. The glossary there is pretty good and one I often point folks to. But I did notice that it doesn’t have First Day so the next place you could try is Quaker Speak.
Here is a Quaker Speak video that has First Day and other terms (thanks to my colleague Liz Nicholson for pointing this out to me):
Lastly, I would recommend Pink Dandelion’s book “The Quakers: A Very Short Introduction” for newcomers looking for a nice introduction to the Quaker tradition (and it has its own glossary).
Here is a blog post I wrote with a number of other resources and introductory texts for folks new to Quakerism.:
Lastly, I’m working on a Coda Doc that I’ll share soon (that folks will be able to add to and edit!). Stay tuned.
I hope this helps,
C. Wess Daniels
Betsy Cazden shared this wonderful resource as well: