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by Drublic on December 16th, 2006

Drublic

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How did the dunce cap originate?

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  • by fredhetz on December 16th, 2006

    fredhetz

    I'd like to say I knew all this but I didn't. My thanks to drublic for giving me a chance to learn something new:

    The word "dunce" was originally a reference to John Duns Scotus, a 13th century scholastic theologian, whose books on theology, philosophy, and logic were University textbooks. His followers, termed "Dunsmen" or "Dunses", were later challenged about their hodge-podge system of hair-splitting and needless distinctions. Their obstinacy over an increasing array of challenges posed first by humanists and then by reformers, led to the term "dunses" to denote fools in general.

    According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition), "dunce cap" didn't enter the English language until after the term "dunce" was so transformed. John Ford's 1624 play The Sun's Darling is the first recorded mention of the related term "dunce table," a table provided for duller or poorer students; "dunce cap" appears first in the 1840 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

    The Straight Dope notes that Duns Scotus accepted the wearing of conical hats to increase learning, in the belief that it would funnel knowledge to its wearer (and perhaps in emulation of wizards).

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