A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 1

A Collection of College Words and Customs.

by Benjamin Homer Hall.

INTRODUCTION.

The first edition of this publication was mostly compiled during the leisure hours of the last half-year of a Senior's collegiate life, and was presented anonymously to the public with the following

"PREFACE.

"The Editor has an indistinct recollection of a sheet of foolscap paper, on one side of which was written, perhaps a year and a half ago, a list of twenty or thirty college phrases, followed by the euphonious t.i.tles of 'Yale Coll.,' 'Harvard Coll.' Next he calls to mind two blue-covered books, turned from their original use, as receptacles of Latin and Greek exercises, containing explanations of these and many other phrases. His friends heard that he was hunting up odd words and queer customs, and dubbed him 'Antiquarian,' but in a kindly manner, spared his feelings, and did not put the vinegar 'old' before it.

"Two and one half quires of paper were in time covered with a strange medley, an olla-podrida of student peculiarities. Thus did he amuse himself in his leisure hours, something like one who, as Dryden says, 'is for raking in Chaucer for antiquated words.' By and by he heard a wish here and a wish there, whether real or otherwise he does not know, which said something about 'type,'

'press,' and used other cabalistic words, such as 'copy,' 'devil,'

etc. Then there was a gathering of papers, a transcribing of pa.s.sages from letters, an arranging in alphabetical order, a correcting of proofs, and the work was done,--poorly it may be, but with good intent.

"Some things will be found in the following pages which are neither words nor customs peculiar to colleges, and yet they have been inserted, because it was thought they would serve to explain the character of student life, and afford a little amus.e.m.e.nt to the student himself. Society histories have been omitted, with the exception of an account of the oldest affiliated literary society in the United States.

"To those who have aided in the compilation of this work, the Editor returns his warmest thanks. He has received the a.s.sistance of many, whose names he would here and in all places esteem it an honor openly to acknowlege, were he not forbidden so to do by the fact that he is himself anonymous. Aware that there is information still to be collected, in reference to the subjects here treated, he would deem it a favor if he could receive through the medium of his publisher such morsels as are yet ungathered.

"Should one pleasant thought arise within the breast of any Alumnus, as a long-forgotten but once familiar word stares him in the face, like an old and early friend; or should one who is still guarded by his Alma Mater be led to a more summer-like acquaintance with those who have in years past roved, as he now roves, through cla.s.sic shades and honored halls, the labors of their friend, the Editor, will have been crowned with complete success.

"CAMBRIDGE, July 4th, 1851."

Fearing lest venerable brows should frown with displeasure at the recital of incidents which once made those brows bright and joyous; dreading also those stern voices which might condemn as boyish, trivial, or wrong an attempt to glean a few grains of philological lore from the hitherto unrecognized corners of the fields of college life, the Editor chose to regard the brows and hear the voices from an innominate position. Not knowing lest he should at some future time regret the publication of pages which might be deemed heterodox, he caused a small edition of the work to be published, hoping, should it be judged as evil, that the error would be circ.u.mscribed in its effects, and the medium of the error buried between the dusty shelves of the second-hand collection of some rusty old bibliopole. By reason of this extreme caution, the volume has been out of print for the last four years.

In the present edition, the contents of the work have been carefully revised, and new articles, filling about two hundred pages, have been interspersed throughout the volume, arranged under appropriate t.i.tles. Numerous additions have been made to the collection of technicalities peculiar to the English universities, and the best authorities have been consulted in the preparation of this department. An index has also been added, containing a list of the American colleges referred to in the text in connection with particular words or customs.

The Editor is aware that many of the words here inserted are wanting in that refinement of sound and derivation which their use in cla.s.sical localities might seem to imply, and that some of the customs here noticed and described are "More honored in the breach than the observance."

These facts are not, however, sufficient to outweigh his conviction that there is nothing in language or manners too insignificant for the attention of those who are desirous of studying the diversified developments of the character of man. For this reason, and for the gratification of his own taste and the tastes of many who were pleased at the inceptive step taken in the first edition, the present volume has been prepared and is now given to the public.

TROY, N.Y., February 2, 1856.

A COLLECTION OF COLLEGE WORDS AND CUSTOMS.

_A_.

A.B. An abbreviation for _Artium Baccalaureus_, Bachelor of Arts.

The first degree taken by students at a college or university. It is usually written B.A., q.v.

ABSIT. Latin; literally, _let him be absent_; leave of absence from commons, given to a student in the English universities.--_Gradus ad Cantab._

ACADEMIAN. A member of an academy; a student in a university or college.

ACADEMIC. A student in a college or university.

A young _academic_ coming into the country immediately after this great compet.i.tion, &c.--_Forby's Vocabulary_, under _Pin-basket_.

A young _academic_ shall dwell upon a journal that treats of trade, and be lavish in the praise of the author; while persons skilled in those subjects hear the tattle with contempt.--_Watts's Improvement of the Mind_.

ACADEMICALS. In the English universities, the dress peculiar to the students and officers.

I must insist on your going to your College and putting on your _academicals_.--_The Etonian_, Vol. II. p. 382.

The Proctor makes a claim of 6s. 8d. on every undergraduate whom he finds _inermem_, or without his _academicals_.--_Gradus ad Cantab._, p. 8.

If you say you are going for a walk, or if it appears likely, from the time and place, you are allowed to pa.s.s, otherwise you may be sent back to college to put on your _academicals_.--_Collegian's Guide_, p. 177.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT. At Harvard College, every student admitted upon examination, after giving a bond for the payment of all college dues, according to the established laws and customs, is required to sign the following _acknowledgment_, as it is called:--"I acknowledge that, having been admitted to the University at Cambridge, I am subject to its laws." Thereupon he receives from the President a copy of the laws which he has promised to obey.--_Laws Univ. of Cam., Ma.s.s._, 1848, p. 13.

ACT. In English universities, a thesis maintained in public by a candidate for a degree, or to show the proficiency of a student.--_Webster_.

The student proposes certain questions to the presiding officer of the schools, who then nominates other students to oppose him. The discussion is syllogistical and in Latin and terminates by the presiding officer questioning the respondent, or person who is said _to keep the act_, and his opponents, and dismissing them with some remarks upon their respective merits.--_Brande_.

The effect of practice in such matters may be ill.u.s.trated by the habit of conversing in Latin, which German students do much more readily than English, simply because the former practise it, and hold public disputes in Latin, while the latter have long left off "_keeping Acts_," as the old public discussions required of candidates for a degree used to be called.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, p. 184.

The word was formerly used in Harvard College. In the "Orders of the Overseers," May 6th, 1650, is the following: "Such that expect to proceed Masters of Arts [are ordered] to exhibit their synopsis of _acts_ required by the laws of the College."--_Quincy's Hist.

Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 518.

Nine Bachelors commenced at Cambridge; they were young men of good hope, and performed their _acts_ so as to give good proof of their proficiency in the tongues and arts.--_Winthrop's Journal, by Mr.

Savage_, Vol. I. p. 87.

The students of the first cla.s.sis that have beene these foure years trained up in University learning (for their ripening in the knowledge of the tongues, and arts) and are approved for their manners, as they have _kept_ their publick _Acts_ in former yeares, ourselves being present at them; so have they lately _kept_ two solemn _Acts_ for their Commencement.--_New England's First Fruits_, in _Ma.s.s. Hist. Coll._, Vol. I. p. 245.

But in the succeeding _acts_ ... the Latin syllogism seemed to give the most content.--_Harvard Register_, 1827-28, p. 305.

2. The close of the session at Oxford, when Masters and Doctors complete their degrees, whence the _Act Term_, or that term in which the _act_ falls. It is always held with great solemnity. At Cambridge, and in American colleges, it is called _Commencement_.

In this sense Mather uses it.

They that were to proceed Bachelors, held their _Act_ publickly in Cambridge.--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. 4, pp. 127, 128.

At some times in the universities of England they have no public _acts_, but give degrees privately and silently.--_Letter of Increase Mather, in App. to Pres. Woolsey's Hist. Disc._, p. 87.

AD EUNDEM GRADUM. Latin, _to the same degree_. In American colleges, a Bachelor or Master of one inst.i.tution was formerly allowed to take _the same_ degree at another, on payment of a certain fee. By this he was admitted to all the privileges of a graduate of his adopted Alma Mater. _Ad eundem gradum_, to the same degree, were the important words in the formula of admission.

A similar custom prevails at present in the English universities.