Contact: Maridith Geuder
Students receiving diplomas this spring know that donning cap and gown is a final step toward receiving a diploma.
They may not realize however, that words denoting the ceremonies have a colorful and sometimes contradictory meaning, says Robert E. Wolverton Sr. of Mississippi State University.
Having traced the history-or etymology-of words associated with graduation, the classics professor notes that the educational process ends with "commencement," a word more associated with beginning than ending. Also, graduating students typically have worked diligently in a school, the derivative, ironically, of a Greek word for leisure.
University or college degrees have classical meanings, as well. "A bachelor's degree denoted one of inferior rank; a master's degree indicated one prepared to be a teacher, and a doctoral degree denoted one who had been taught and now is learned," Wolverton says.
As for clothing worn at graduation ceremonies, there are suggestions of both the regal and common. "Students and faculty alike are attired in academic regalia, clothing fit for kings and queens. Included are the gown, first worn by men of distinction, and the mortarboard, first used by bricklayers to hold their mortar."
The tassel was a later addition, used to indicate different levels of achievement and different fields of study.
Top students will graduate summa cum laude, with highest praise; others, magna cum laude, with high praise; and still others, cum laude, with praise. With tongue in cheek and a broad smile on his face, Wolverton adds: "For some, though, graduation will be "mirabile dictu," which means strange or wonderful to say."
Having received the degree, the former student is now an "alumnus" or "alumna," a word denoting foster son or foster daughter. Graduates then depart from their "alma mater," words literally meaning the nourishing mother.
While the graduates are pulling up stakes from the campus, Wolverton would remind them that their relationship with the institution doesn't end. "For their alma mater to remain nourishing, they must provide some of the 'nourishment' through their ongoing support."