“What a dunce!” Most of us would be offended if labeled this today, but travel back about several hundred years and we might have considered it a compliment. We think a dunce refers to someone who is lacking in intellectual ability, drawing to mind the dunce cap.
So how does a compliment become an insult?
The transition has its origins in the squabbles of Medieval schools of philosophy. John Duns Scotus was a renowned Franciscan philosopher and Scholastic theologian in the 1300s. Read about him here. His followers were reported to have worn tall, pointy hats to honor him. These hats, eventually known as dunce caps, were originally viewed as symbols of high intellect. Although Duns Scotus died fairly young and suddenly, his writings continued to be influential.
By the 15th century the renaissance was in full swing and humanism, which focused on the question of what it means to be human, had grown in influence while scholasticism’s popularity had begun to fade. The Protestant Reformation was also occurring at this time, which rejected many teachings of the Catholic Church, such as the veneration of Mary. Dunces held tight to the teachings of Duns Scotus and scholasticism. Those who favored the humanistic schools of thought came to consider Dunces as backwards and incapable of serious scholarship.
From that time forward dunce became derogatory and the dunce cap evolved into a symbol of shame and isolation. Up until the last century the dunce cap was used as a form of punishment for disruptive school children who would be sent to the corner away from their more scholarly classmates.
Duns Scotus’s writings continued to be influential in some circles, especially in parts of the catholic church. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993 and is now known as the Blessed John Duns Scotus.
Most of us will never delve into the ins and outs of Medieval philosophy or seriously consider the intellectual arguments of each side, though we probably will continue to use dunce as an insult.
It is interesting to consider the enduring nature of word use to shape our thinking. Interesting to know these three didn’t start out how we know them today: nice, silly or awful.
Crytal Kelly is a feature writer for Bizarre Bytes with those unusual facts that you only need to know for Trivial Pursuit or Jeopardy or to stump your in-laws.
