COMMENCEMENT (OF., Fr. commence ment, from OF. eomencer, Fr. commencer, It. cominciare, to begin, from Lat. con-, together initiare, to begin, from initium, beginning, from in ire, to enter, from in, in ire, to go). In American colleges, the name given to the concluding exercises of the college year, when degrees are conferred upon the bachelors, mas ters, and doctors completing their respective courses of study. The term is applied loosely to the graduating exercises of academies, secondary schools, etc. The custom originated in the me di.eval universities, though the appropriate term was 'inception.' The inception involved two elements: (1) The recognition of the graduate or new teacher by his old master and other members of the profession; (2) the formal en trance of the newly licensed teacher upon his work by the actual performance of its duties. Hence. an essential feature of the exercises was that the recipient of the bachelor's degree should 'incept' or teach, and that the recipients of the higher degrees should defend a thesis.
At Oxford this occasion was called Commemora tion; but at Cambridge it was, and is yet. called Commencement. The 'inceptor' was there called `commencer'—that is, one who commenced to teach. The ceremony and the term were a part of the inheritance received by Harvard Col lege from Cambridge University, and thus be came genera] among American colleges. This exercise in Colonial days was held in the fall, at the commencement of the college year, and the term is often, though erroneously, supposed to refer to this fact. As the medieval bachelor `incepted,' or taught, the graduate of the Ameri can college delivered an oration or dissertation before receiving his degree. With the larger colleges, even this modification of the old custom is now commonly abandoned, and in many places the Commencement exercises include only the address by the president or some distinguished educator, and the conferring of degrees. See UNIVERSITY ; DEGREE; COLLEGE; CURRICULUM.