Studies in Higher Education

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September 21, 2009 Posted by Katie Read | Miscellanious | | No Comments Yet

“College” – The Historical Meaning

c.1378, from O.Fr. (Old French) collége, from L. (Latin) collegium “community, society, guild,” lit. “association of collegae” (see colleague). First meaning any corporate group, the sense of “academic institution” became principal in 19c. through Oxford and Cambridge, where it had been used since 1379. Collegiate is 1514, from M.L. collegiatus “of or having to do with a college.”

See more using the Online Etymology Dictionary at http://www.etymonline.com/

From Wikipedia:  (Latin: collegium) is a term most often used today to denote degree awarding tertiary educational institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of colleagues, for example, an electoral college, a College of Arms or the College of Cardinals. Originally, it meant a group of persons living together, under a common set of rules (con- = “together” + leg- = “law” or lego = “I choose”); indeed, some colleges call their members “fellows“. The precise usage of the term varies among the English-speaking countries. In the United States and Ireland, for example, the terms “college” and “university” may be regarded as loosely interchangeable, whereas in the United Kingdom, Australia and other Commonwealth countries, a “college” is usually an institution between school and university level (although constituent schools within universities are also known as “colleges”).

September 11, 2009 Posted by Katie Read | Colleges, Miscellanious | , | No Comments Yet