The quick and the dead

I had a discussion on a shut-in call today about the difference between "the living and the dead" and "the quick and the dead".

My congregations are currently using The Lutheran Hymnal, and there is some discussion about changing over to Lutheran Service Book. In discussing with my shut-in some of the differences between the two, we started talking about the "updating" in the language of the creed. (I realize that everyone who uses Lutheran Worship is already past this discussion; I appreciate your patience :)

Quick means living. It has all sorts of archaic meanings: as an adjective - not stagnant, running, flowing; fiery, glowing; pregnant.

There is also a verbal form, "to quicken", which means: to make alive, revive; to cause to be enlivened, stimulate. "To quicken" has the archaic meaning "to kindle, to cause to burn more intensely" (which brings to mind the prayer: "Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Thy love"). "To quicken" also means "to come to life" - "entering into a phase of active growth and development" and "reaching the stage of gestation at which fetal motion is felt".*

I've always wondered if there was something a little more generic about "living" and whether we did not lose something from "quick" in the updating. Thoughts?


*From Libronix looking at Merriam-Webster, I. 1996, c1993. Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary. Includes index. (10th ed.). Merriam-Webster: Springfield, Mass., U.S.A.