This past week, while reorganizing my personal library, I came across A Confederacy of Dunces* and wondered were the term "dunce" originated. A quick internet search netted a wealth of information (extremely appealing to this lover of history) that dates it back to the early 16th century, as a derogatory term applied to the followers of John Duns Scotus (c. 1265/66 – 1308).
The Blessed Duns Scotus ("Duns the Scot") was a was a Scottish Catholic priest, university lecturer, philosopher, and Augustinian-Franciscan theologian who had great influence on both Christian and secular Western European thinking during the High Middle Ages.
Now, fast forward a few hundred years to the Renaissance and note the rise of secularism with it's emphasis on being successful and happy in this present world rather than a concentration on the Christian afterlife, and a focus on the political, economic, social and intellectual aspects of life instead of religion. Those Scotists arguing against this secularism were derided by the humanists, and the term "dunce" (from name "Duns"), became synonymous for one who was backward thinking, incapable of true scholarship.
Probably more information than anyone is really interested in on a Monday morning, but I found it fascinating!
So, how about you? Did you stumble across any interesting words over the past week?
*A novel I consider a work of genius while being fully cognizant that it's not universally appealing.
