WHAT A DUNCE!

Evening Star, Issue 20135, 27 March 1929, Page 11

WHAT A DUNCE!

It you want to he also you should, go to Duns. They have been learned there for centuries; they are so still.And alien; is Duns, that you may go there? It is a wee town in Berwickshire, with the usual history of towns in the Border country, for in 1545 it was unfortunately destroyed, only to build itself up again bravely a few years Inter. Rut Duns has a greater claim to history, or nt least to tradition, than a tew Border raids. It is the town of Duns Scokus ol medieval, fain-. Duns Seolus was a philosopher of the thirteenth century, and a popular one too, as his mere pi-escnce attracted sonic .in.(l(H) students to Oxlonl. University. He wrote books on the Bible and Aristotle, and he disputed, with Aquinas, enhancing the reputation of his native town lor learning. H seems strange indeed that from so wise a ph.ee and from so great a philosopher should have come a, word that still expresses the unlearned; a simpleton, a,’ fool, a know nothing—in short, n, “ dunce.” But though Duns Scotns may have been a monument to wisdom, Ids' students of a later day were not, and they opposed all forms, of learning but their own. Jlcnco, in derision, they were known as “ Dunscrs ” or opponents of advancing thought., .therefore ignoramuses. So the whirligig of time turned and twisted the word about, as it lias done to many another word', and gave it an opposite meaning to its first one. So take courage, little dunce, as yrui stand in the corner with, your fool’s cap on your head. Aon may not be as silly as you look, and certainly Duns Scotus was no lack , wit.But dunces are out of date to-day; it is pleasant to think, when there is more jovc for learning. The onlv “toolscap ” left pertains to the stationers, • among whom the name lingers, though its meaning is lost for ever.