The Sharpest Tongue (3)

In less politically correct times in schools children who came bottom of the class or were struggling at particular subjects were called dunces and were even forced to sit in the corner wearing a pointed hat. In my day, I recall the term being used, although no one was forced to sit out or wear a hat. Nowadays, of course, teachers will strain their thesaurus to find an adjective that gives a scintilla of encouragement to the floundering student.

I had never given much thought to the origin of the term “dunce” but it turns out that it gives a fascinating insight into the religious struggles of the 16th century. John Duns Scotus was a 14th century scholar whose works were enormously influential in Western philosophy and theology, his proof of the existence of God, according to the 20th century monk, Thomas Merton, the best that has ever been offered.

However, with the rise of Protestantism and humanism during the following century the contribution of Scotus to religious thought underwent a sea change. By 1587 the English chronicler, Raphael Holinshed, was observing that “it is grown to be a common prouerbe in derision, to call such a person as is senselesse or without learning a Duns, which is as much a foole”.

Curiously, though, as John Lyly noted in his Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578), “if a person is given to study, they proclayme him a duns”. It is thought that the humanist contempt od the scholastic method and style of the likes of Scotus conflated the concepts of foolishness and studiousness into the pejorative dunce. After all, a person would be wasting their time reading Scotus.

One of Scotus’ adherents, Nicholas de Orbelius, also gave his name to a pejorative educational term. Dobel was used to describe a scholastical pedant, a dull-witted person, a dolt.

O tempora, o mores!