A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 49

_K_.

KEEP. To lodge, live, dwell, or inhabit. To _keep_ in such a place, is to have rooms there. This word, though formerly used extensively, is now confined to colleges and universities.

Inquire of anybody you meet in the court of a college at Cambridge your way to Mr. A----'s room, you will be told that he _keeps_ on such a staircase, up so many pair of stairs, door to the right or left.--_Forby's Vocabulary_, Vol. II. p. 178.

He said I ought to have asked for his rooms, or inquired where he _kept_.--_Gent. Mag._, 1795, p. 118.

Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, cites this very apposite pa.s.sage from Shakespeare: "Knock at the study where they say he keeps."

Mr. Pickering, in his Vocabulary, says of the word: "This is noted as an Americanism in the Monthly Anthology, Vol. V. p. 428. It is less used now than formerly."

_To keep an act_, in the English universities, "to perform an exercise in the public schools preparatory to the proceeding in degrees." The phrase was formerly in use in Harvard College. In an account in the Ma.s.s. Hist. Coll., Vol. I. p. 245, ent.i.tled New England's First Fruits, is the following in reference to that inst.i.tution: "The students of the first cla.s.sis that have beene these foure yeeres trained up in University learning, and are approved for their manners, as they have _kept their publick Acts_ in former yeeres, ourselves being present at them; so have they lately _kept two solemn Acts_ for their Commencement."

_To keep chapel_, in colleges, to attend Divine services, which are there performed daily.

"As you have failed to _make up your number_ of chapels the last two weeks," such are the very words of the Dean, "you will, if you please, _keep every chapel_ till the end of the term."--_Household Words_, Vol. II. p. 161.

_To keep a term_, in universities, is to reside during a term.--_Webster_.

KEYS. Caius, the name of one of the colleges in the University of Cambridge, Eng., is familiarly p.r.o.nounced _Keys_.

KINGSMAN. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., a member of King's College.

He came out the winner, with the _Kingsman_ and one of our three close at his heels.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed.

2d, p. 127.

KITCHEN-HATCH. A half-door between the kitchen and the hall in colleges and old mansions. At Harvard College, the students in former times received at the _kitchen-hatch_ their food for the evening meal, which they were allowed to eat in the yard or at their rooms. At the same place the waiters also took the food which they carried to the tables.

The waiters when the bell rings at meal-time shall take the victuals at the _kitchen-hatch_, and carry the Same to the several tables for which they are designed.--_Laws Harv. Coll._, 1798, p.

41.

See b.u.t.tERY-HATCH.

KNOCK IN. A phrase used at Oxford, and thus explained in the Collegian's Guide: "_Knocking in_ late, or coming into college after eleven or twelve o'clock, is punished frequently with being 'confined to gates,' or being forbidden to '_knock in_' or come in after nine o'clock for a week or more, sometimes all the term."--p. 161.

KNOCKS. From KNUCKLES. At some of the Southern colleges, a game at marbles called _Knucks_ is a common diversion among the students.

[Greek: Kudos]. Greek; literally, _glory, fame_. Used among students, with the meaning _credit, reputation_.

I was actuated not merely by a desire after the promotion of my own [Greek: kudos], but by an honest wish to represent my country well.--_Bristed's Five Years in an Eng. Univ._, Ed. 2d, pp. 27, 28.

_L_.

LANDSMANNSCHAFT. German. The name of an a.s.sociation of students in German universities.

LAP-EAR. At Washington College, Penn., students of a religious character are called _lap-ears_ or _donkeys_. The opposite cla.s.s are known by the common name of _bloods_.

LATIN SPOKEN AT COLLEGES. At our older American colleges, students were formerly required to be able to speak and write Latin before admission, and to continue the use of it after they had become members. In his History of Harvard University, Quincy remarks on this subject:--

"At a period when Latin was the common instrument of communication among the learned, and the official language of statesmen, great attention was naturally paid to this branch of education.

Accordingly, 'to speak true Latin, both in prose and verse,' was made an essential requisite for admission. Among the 'Laws and Liberties' of the College we also find the following: 'The scholars _shall never use their mother tongue_, except that, in public exercises of oratory or such like, they be called to make them in English.' This law appears upon the records of the College in the Latin as well as in the English language. The terms in the former are indeed less restrictive and more practical: 'Scholares vernacula lingua, _intra Collegii limites_, nullo pretextu utentur.' There is reason to believe that those educated at the College, and destined for the learned professions, acquired an adequate acquaintance with the Latin, and those destined to become divines, with the Greek and Hebrew. In other respects, although the sphere of instruction was limited, it was sufficient for the age and country, and amply supplied all their purposes and wants."

--Vol. I. pp. 193, 194.

By the laws of 1734, the undergraduates were required to "declaim publicly in the hall, in one of the three learned languages; and in no other without leave or direction from the President." The observance of this rule seems to have been first laid aside, when, "at an Overseers' meeting at the College, April 27th, 1756, John Va.s.sall, Jonathan Allen, Tristram Gilman, Thomas Toppan, Edward Walker, Samuel Barrett, presented themselves before the Board, and p.r.o.nounced, in the respective characters a.s.signed them, a dialogue in _the English tongue_, translated from Castalio, and then withdrew,"--_Peirce's Hist. Harv. Univ._, p. 240.

The first English Oration was spoken by Mr. Jedediah Huntington in the year 1763, and the first English Poem by Mr. John Davis in 1781.

In reference to this subject, as connected with Yale College, President Wholsey remarks, in his Historical Discourse:--

"With regard to practice in the learned languages, particularly the Latin, it is prescribed that 'no scholar shall use the English tongue in the College with his fellow-scholars, unless he be called to a public exercise proper to be attended in the English tongue, but scholars in their chambers, and when they are together, shall talk Latin.'"--p. 59.

"The fluent use of Latin was acquired by the great body of the students; nay, certain phrases were caught up by the very cooks in the kitchen. Yet it cannot be said that elegant Latin was either spoken or written. There was not, it would appear, much practice in writing this language, except on the part of those who were candidates for Berkeleian prizes. And the extant specimens of Latin discourses written by the officers of the College in the past century are not eminently Ciceronian in their style. The speaking of Latin, which was kept up as the College dialect in rendering excuses for absences, in syllogistic disputes, and in much of the intercourse between the officers and students, became nearly extinct about the time of Dr. Dwight's accession. And at the same period syllogistic disputes as distinguished from forensic seem to have entirely ceased."--p. 62.

The following story is from the Sketches of Yale College. "In former times, the students were accustomed to a.s.semble together to render excuses for absence in Latin. One of the Presidents was in the habit of answering to almost every excuse presented, 'Ratio non sufficit' (The reason is not sufficient). On one occasion, a young man who had died a short time previous was called upon for an excuse. Some one answered, 'Mortuus est' (He is dead). 'Ratio non sufficit,' repeated the grave President, to the infinite merriment of his auditors."--p. 182.

The story is current of one of the old Presidents of Harvard College, that, wishing to have a dog that had strayed in at evening prayers driven out of the Chapel, he exclaimed, half in Latin and half in English, "Exclude canem, et shut the door." It is also related that a Freshman who had been shut up in the b.u.t.tery by some Soph.o.m.ores, and had on that account been absent from a recitation, when called upon with a number of others to render an excuse, not knowing how to express his ideas in Latin, replied in as learned a manner as possible, hoping that his answer would pa.s.s as Latin, "Shut m' up in t' b.u.t.tery."

A very pleasant story, ent.i.tled "The Tutor's Ghost," in which are narrated the misfortunes which befell a tutor in the olden time, on account of his inability to remember the Latin for the word "beans," while engaged in conversation, may be found in the "Yale Literary Magazine," Vol. XX. pp. 190-195.

See NON PARAVI and NON VALUI.

LAUREATE. To honor with a degree in the university, and a present of a wreath of laurel.--_Warton_.

LAUREATION. The act of conferring a degree in the university, together with a wreath of laurel; an honor bestowed on those who excelled in writing verse. This was an ancient practice at Oxford, from which, probably, originated the denomination of _poet laureate_.--_Warton_.

The laurel crown, according to Brande, "was customarily given at the universities in the Middle Ages to such persons as took degrees in grammar and rhetoric, of which poetry formed a branch; whence, according to some authors, the term Baccalaureatus has been derived. The academical custom of bestowing the laurel, and the court custom, were distinct, until the former was abolished.

The last instance in which the laurel was bestowed in the universities, was in the reign of Henry the Eighth."

LAWS. In early times, the laws in the oldest colleges in the United States were as often in Latin as in English. They were usually in ma.n.u.script, and the students were required to make copies for themselves on entering college. The Rev. Henry Dunster, who was the first President of Harvard College, formed the first code of laws for the College. They were styled, "The Laws, Liberties, and Orders of Harvard College, confirmed by the Overseers and President of the College in the years 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, and 1646, and published to the scholars for the perpetual preservation of their welfare and government." Referring to him, Quincy says: "Under his administration, the first code of laws was formed; rules of admission, and the principles on which degrees should be granted, were established; and scholastic forms, similar to those customary in the English universities, were adopted; many of which continue, with little variation, to be used at the present time."--_Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 15.

In 1732, the laws were revised, and it was voted that they should all be in Latin, and that each student should have a copy, which he was to write out for himself and subscribe. In 1790, they were again revised and printed in English, since which time many editions have been issued.