Question I am trying to title a song I will sing at a banquet for graduation from medical residency training. What is the Latin for "A Graduation Song"?
Answer Hello,
the Latin for "A Graduation Song" would be “Laureae Hymnus”.
This in medieval Latin, i.e. the Latin language as used from about 500 to about 1500, since in classical Latin there was no graduation, which began to exist in the Middle Ages after the foundation of the University of Bologna (Italy), the oldest university in Europe and in the Western World (1088).
See below to learn more.
Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:
-A graduation = LAUREAE (genitive of LAUREA, 1st. declension. Literally, ‘of graduation’)
In classical Latin the feminine noun “laurea” (from ‘laurus’, laurel) meant “crown of laurel” as the laurel, in ancient Greece and Rome, was sacred to Apollo, and then was used to form a crown or wreath of honour for poets and heroes.
Hence the use of the “laurea”, i.e. a crown of laurel, to those who had received an academic degree or diploma in the Middle Ages.
