Q: Can you assist me with my research? I am investigating the meaning of “generally” when it was added to the Book of Common Prayer in 1604. The specific sentence in question is: “Two only, as generally necessary to salvation; that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord.” Does this mean that the two sacraments are usually necessary, or universally necessary?
A: In 1604, John Overall, Dean of St. Paul’s, included this passage in the children’s catechism in the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer:
“Question. How many Sacraments hath Christ ordained in his Church?
“Answer. Two only as generally necessary to salvation, that is to say, Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord [Communion].”
The use of the adverb “generally” had multiple meanings in the early 1600s: (1) broadly speaking, (2) usually, and (3) universally. While all three meanings were present since the 1300s, the third sense is now considered archaic.
There is no record of an explanation by Overall or a contemporary regarding the intended sense of “generally” in the catechism.
Later Anglican writers have interpreted “generally” to mean “universally necessary” in the catechism. For example, Arthur W. Robinson explains in The Church Catechism Explained (1895):
“ ‘Generally necessary’: i.e. universally necessary, necessary for all alike: obligatory in a way in which, for example, Holy Orders or Matrimony could not be said to be.”
According to the OED, the adverb “generally” was formed in English by adding the “-ly” suffix to the adjective “general,” derived ultimately from the Latin adjective generalis, meaning “common to the whole of a class or kind, generic, forming a group or class, of universal application.”
In terms of Overall’s intention, as a High Church traditionalist who was accustomed to speaking Latin due to his background as a divinity professor at Cambridge, it is likely that he meant “generally” in its “universal” sense derived from the Latin adjective generalis.
The adverb “generally” had three original senses in English, all first appearing in Ayenbite of Inwyt (1340). Here are the meanings and their earliest citations:
1) broadly speaking: “Now I have above generally shown the dignity and the worth and the goodness of virtue and of charity.”
2) usually: “ ‘Sell all that you have and give it to the poor,’ that is the virtue that holy scripture teaches more generally.”
3) universally: “Wickedness generally is in each sin, for no sin is indeed without wickedness.”
It is interesting to note that the title Ayenbite of Inwyt appears in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses (1922) several times, altered slightly, and is typically translated as “Remorse of Conscience.” Joyce uses it in the sense of “conscience,” as exemplified by the phrase: “They wash and tub and scrub. Agenbite of inwit. Conscience.”
Support the Grammarphobia Blog with a donation. Explore our books on the English language and more.
