Cranmer set out to give the Church a liturgy in “a tongue understanded of the people.” Four centuries on, a handful of his words are still in everyday use — but no longer mean what they meant then. “Prevent,” “let,” and “quick” are the classic traps: words that look familiar and are read with a modern meaning that inverts or misses the sense intended.
This list follows the model of the well-known bookmark issued by the Prayer Book Society (UK), researched by Fergus Butler-Gallie and distributed to theological students since 2017. Its headwords and definitions are reproduced here; each illustrative quotation has been checked against the actual text of the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer, and re-sourced to that book where the wording of the American and English books differs (the 1928 American marriage rite, for instance, does not retain the English book’s ‘with my body I thee worship’ clause, so that entry has been omitted here).
The printed card itself is not a shop item: the Prayer Book Society does not sell it, but supplies a copy free of charge to anyone who sends a stamped, self-addressed standard DL envelope (220mm × 110mm), marked ‘GLOSSARY,’ to their office in Reading, England; congregations, confirmation classes, and study groups wanting larger quantities may request them directly by phone or email.
- Brethren
- An inclusive term for all those present in a service — men and women alike.
- “Dearly beloved brethren…” (opening of Morning and Evening Prayer)
- Comfort; Comfortable
- From the late Latin confortare, “to strengthen, to make strong” — not mere consolation, but the giving of strength.
- “Hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith…” (Communion service)
- Concord
- Agreement and harmony between people.
- “give to all nations unity, peace, and concord” (The Litany)
- Convenient
- Fitting, appropriate — not merely handy.
- “It is convenient that the new married persons should receive Holy Communion.” (Solemnization of Matrimony)
- Conversation
- Public conduct or manner of life, not just speech.
- “examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments” (Exhortation, Communion service)
- Curate
- Any priest who has “cure” (care) of souls in a particular place, ordinarily a parish — not, as now, a junior assistant.
- “as the Curate by his discretion shall appoint” (Communion service rubrics)
- Eschew
- To abstain from, to avoid.
- General usage in exhortations and homiletic language.
- Froward
- Perverse, obstinately contrary.
- Psalm 18:26, Psalm 101:5
- Ghost; Ghostly
- From Old English gāst (cf. German Geist), “Spirit”; hence “ghostly” means spiritual.
- “…together with ghostly counsel and advice.” (Solemnization of Matrimony, Exhortation)
- Graven
- Carved, hand-made.
- “Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image.” (The Decalogue, Communion service)
- Holpen
- Archaic past participle of “to help.”
- “He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel.” (The Magnificat)
- Indifferently
- Impartially, without favor or prejudice — not “with indifference.”
- Occasional Prayers, on the administration of justice.
- Intolerable
- From the Latin intolerabilis, that which cannot be borne.
- Penitential and confessional language.
- Let
- To hinder or obstruct — the near-opposite of its modern sense of “allow.”
- “we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us” (Collect, Fourth Sunday in Advent)
- Lively
- Living, full of life — not merely “energetic.”
- “a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto thee” (Prayer of Consecration, Communion service)
- Magnify
- To glorify, to praise greatly.
- “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” (The Magnificat)
- Man; Men
- An inclusive term for all human beings.
- “Who for us men, and for our salvation came down from heaven…” (The Nicene Creed)
- Meet
- Fitting, appropriate.
- “It is meet and right so to do.” (Preface, Communion service)
- Militant
- The Church on earth, still “fighting the good fight of faith” (Latin militans) — as opposed to the Church Triumphant in Heaven.
- “the whole state of Christ’s Church militant here in earth” (Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church)
- Miserable
- Pitiable, standing in need of mercy — not “unhappy.”
- “But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders.” (General Confession)
- Oblation
- From the Latin oblatio (offerre, “to offer”): an offering.
- “alms and oblations… his one oblation of himself once offered.” (Prayer of Consecration)
- Only
- Often means “alone,” not merely “solely.”
- “of whose only gift it cometh…” (Collect, Trinity XIII)
- Prevent
- To go before, to precede (from the Latin praevenire) — not to stop or hinder.
- “Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with thy most gracious favour” (Collect after Communion)
- Profession
- A declaration of belief.
- “Baptism representeth unto us our profession…” (Catechism)
- Propitiate; Propitiation
- To win or gain favor; a sacrifice that turns aside wrath.
- “he is the propitiation for our sins.” (Communion service, Comfortable Words)
- Quick; Quicken
- Living; to make alive — not “fast.”
- “…shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” (The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds)
- Regenerate
- Born again spiritually.
- “Grant that we being regenerate…” (Baptismal service)
- Remission
- Forgiveness and absolution.
- “…that we may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission…” (Communion service)
- Sabaoth
- Hebrew for “hosts” or “armies.”
- “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth” (Sanctus, Communion service)
- Satisfaction
- The fulfilling of an obligation incurred.
- “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world” (Prayer of Consecration)
- Suffer
- To endure pain; or, distinctly, to tolerate or allow.
- “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” (Baptismal service)
- Suffrages
- Intercessory petitions offered by the priest, with the people’s responses.
- “The Suffrages” (Morning and Evening Prayer)
- Supplication
- Humble and earnest petition.
- “…to make our common supplications unto thee” (Collect for Grace)
- Tempt; Temptation
- To test, testing — not solely enticement to sin.
- “lead us not into temptation” (The Lord’s Prayer)
- Travail
- Painful or laborious effort; to undergo such labor.
- “Come unto me, all ye that travail…” (Exhortation, Communion service)
- Very
- True, genuine.
- “Very God of very God” (The Nicene Creed)
- Vouchsafe
- To grant readily, to condescend graciously.
- “…vouchsafe to hear us, O Christ” (The Litany)
- Vulgar
- Common, in ordinary use, easily understandable — not “crude.”
- “…in the vulgar tongue.” (Article XXIV, Articles of Religion)
- Worthily
- With due reverence, deservedly, appropriately.
- “we, worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness…” (Prayer of Humble Access)
Sources
Word list and definitions adapted from A Prayer Book Glossary, The Prayer Book Society (UK), pbs.org.uk. Scripture and liturgical citations checked against The 1928 Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, as archived at justus.anglican.org and episcopalnet.org.