A Collection of College Words and Customs Part 79

Used both in England and the United States, "and recently," says Webster, "introduced into books as a term of derision."

Sn.o.bBESS. In the English universities, a female _sn.o.b_.

Effeminacies like these, induced, no doubt, by the flattering admiration of the fair _sn.o.bbesses_.--_Alma Mater_, Vol. II. p.

116.

Sn.o.bBISH. Belonging to or resembling a _sn.o.b_.

Sn.o.bBY. Low; vulgar; resembling or pertaining to a _sn.o.b_.

SNUB. To reprimand; check; rebuke. Used among students, more frequently than by any other cla.s.s of persons.

SOPH. In the University of Cambridge, England, an abbreviation of SOPHISTER.--_Webster_.

On this word, Crabb, in his _Technological Dictionary_, says: "A certain distinction or t.i.tle which undergraduates in the University at Oxford a.s.sume, previous to their examination for a degree. It took its rise in the exercises which students formerly had to go through, but which are now out of use."

Three College _Sophs_, and three pert Templars came, The same their talents, and their tastes the same.

_Pope's Dunciad_, B. II. v. 389, 390.

2. In the American colleges, an abbreviation of Soph.o.m.ore.

_Sophs_ wha ha' in Commons fed!

_Sophs_ wha ha' in Commons bled!

_Sophs_ wha ne'er from Commons fled!

Puddings, steaks, or wines!

_Rebelliad_, p. 52.

The _Sophs_ did nothing all the first fortnight but torment the Fresh, as they call us.--_Harvardiana_, Vol. III. p. 76.

The _Sophs_ were victorious at every point.--_Yale Banger_, Nov.

10, 1846.

My Chum, a _Soph_, says he committed himself too soon.--_The Dartmouth_, Vol. IV. p. 118.

SOPHIC. A contraction of soph.o.m.oric.

So then the _Sophic_ army Came on in warlike glee.

_The Battle of the Ball_, 1853.

SOPHIMORE. The old manner of spelling what is now known as SOPh.o.m.oRE.

The President may give Leave for the _Sophimores_ to take out some particular Books.--_Laws Yale Coll._, 1774, p. 23.

His favorite researches, however, are discernible in his observations on a comet, which appeared in the beginning of his _Sophimore_ year.--_Holmes's Life of Ezra Stiles_, p. 13.

I aver thou hast never been a corporal in the militia, or a _sophimore_ at college.--_The Algerine Captive_, Walpole, 1797, Vol. I. p. 68.

SOPHISH GOWN. Among certain gownsmen, a gown that bears the marks of much service; "a thing of shreds and patches."--_Gradus ad Cantab._

SOPHIST. A name given to the undergraduates at Cambridge, England.

--_Crabb's Tech. Dict._

SOPHISTER. Greek, [Greek: sophistaes]. In the University of Cambridge, Eng., the t.i.tle of students who are advanced beyond the first year of their residence. The entire course at the University consists of three years and one term, during which the students have the t.i.tles of First-Year Men, or Freshmen; Second-Year Men, or Junior Sophs or Sophisters; Third-Year Men, or Senior Sophs or Sophisters; and, in the last term, Questionists, with reference to the approaching examination. In the older American colleges, the Junior and Senior Cla.s.ses were originally called Junior Sophisters and Senior Sophisters. The term is also used at Oxford and Dublin.

--_Webster_.

And in case any of the _Sophisters_ fail in the premises required at their hands, &c.--_Quincy's Hist. Harv. Univ._, Vol. I. p. 518.

SOPh.o.m.oRE. One belonging to the second of the four cla.s.ses in an American college.

Professor Goodrich, in his unabridged edition of Dr. Webster's Dictionary, gives the following interesting account of this word.

"This word has generally been considered as an 'American barbarism,' but was probably introduced into our country, at a very early period, from the University of Cambridge, Eng. Among the cant terms at that University, as given in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, we find _Soph-Mor_ as 'the next distinctive appellation to Freshman.' It is added, that 'a writer in the Gentlemen's Magazine thinks _mor_ an abbreviation of the Greek [Greek: moria], introduced at a time when the _Encomium Moriae_, the Praise of Folly, by Erasmus, was so generally used.' The ordinary derivation of the word, from [Greek: sofos] and [Greek: moros] would seem, therefore, to be incorrect. The younger Sophs at Cambridge appear, formerly, to have received the adjunct _mor_ ([Greek: moros]) to their names, either as one which they courted for the reason mentioned above, or as one given them in sport, for the supposed exhibition of inflated feeling in entering on their new honors. The term, thus applied, seems to have pa.s.sed, at a very early period, from Cambridge in England to Cambridge in America, as 'the next distinctive appellation to Freshman,' and thus to have been attached to the second of the four cla.s.ses in our American colleges; while it has now almost ceased to be known, even as a cant word, at the parent inst.i.tution in England whence it came. This derivation of the word is rendered more probable by the fact, that the early spelling was, to a great extent at least, Soph_i_more, as appears from the ma.n.u.scripts of President Stiles of Yale College, and the records of Harvard College down to the period of the American Revolution. This would be perfectly natural if _Soph_ or _Sophister_ was considered as the basis of the word, but can hardly be explained if the ordinary derivation had then been regarded as the true one."

Some further remarks on this word may be found in the Gentleman's Magazine, above referred to, 1795, Vol. LXV. p. 818.

SOPh.o.m.oRE COMMENCEMENT. At Princeton College, it has long been the custom for the Soph.o.m.ore Cla.s.s, near the time of the Commencement at the close of the Senior year, to hold a Commencement in imitation of it, at which burlesque and other exercises, appropriate to the occasion, are performed. The speakers chosen are a Salutatorian, a Poet, an Historian, who reads an account of the doings of the Cla.s.s up to that period, a Valedictorian, &c., &c. A band of music is always in attendance. After the addresses, the Cla.s.s partake of a supper, which is usually prolonged to a very late hour. In imitation of the Soph.o.m.ore Commencement, _Burlesque Bills_, as they are called, are prepared and published by the Juniors, in which, in a long and formal programme, such subjects and speeches are attributed to the members of the Soph.o.m.ore Cla.s.s as are calculated to expose their weak points.

SOPh.o.m.oRIC, SOPh.o.m.oRICAL. Pertaining to or like a Soph.o.m.ore.

Better to face the prowling panther's path, Than meet the storm of _Soph.o.m.oric_ wrath.

_Harvardiana_, Vol. IV. p. 22.

We trust he will add by his example no significancy to that pithy word, "_Soph.o.m.oric_."--_Sketches of Williams Coll._, p. 63.

Another meaning, derived, it would appear, from the characteristics of the Soph.o.m.ore, yet not very creditable to him, is _bombastic, inflated in style or manner_.--_J.C. Calhoun_.

Students are looked upon as being necessarily _Soph.o.m.orical_ in literary matters.--_Williams Quarterly_, Vol. II. p. 84.

The Professor told me it was rather _Soph.o.m.orical_.--_Sketches of Williams Coll._, p. 74.

SOPHRONISCUS. At Yale College, this name is given to Arnold's Greek Prose Composition, from the fact of its repeated occurrence in that work.

_Sophronisc.u.m_ relinquemus; Et Euclidem comburemus, Ejus vi soluti.

_Pow-wow of Cla.s.s of '58, Yale Coll._