I frequently see Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham abbreviated to be oxon, cantab, and dunelm, respectively. I am wondering if any other universities do this with their names. Does this only happen with UK university names, or do any universities in other countries also use Latin abbreviations? And, if there are more, is there any sort of comprehensive list out there that gives them all?
The only Latin-named university I know of in the US is the University of Vermont, and it’s kind of a special case. Its official name is Universitas Viridis Montis, which means “University of the Green Mountains.” I don’t know anybody who calls it by the full name, though; we usually just say “UVM.”
I would think that Latin names for US universities would be pretty uncommon, since we don’t have a history of using Latin as the language of scholarship. Dunno about other, non-English-speaking countries.
The university I work for is sometimes referred to as “Universitas Niagara” (In Statu Neo Eboracensis, no less! And yes, I know it’s incorrect Latin grammar, but what are you going to do?) I’ve seen it on more than a few documents, not just diplomas. I guess the priests have to work it into their Latin prayers somehow. I’ll ask around tomorrow to see if that’s the “official” name of the institution…if it is, I would imagine that there would be a number of other Catholic universities with official Latin names.
The University of Kansas is refered to as Sicillum Universitatis Kansiensis on some documents. It’s not much of an abbreviation, though. Nobody, by the way, ever calls it “SUK”. Not for that reason, at least.
The University of Southampton is refered to as Soton but I doubt this is latin, mearly an abbr.
Perhaps I should make my question more specific. I was thinking in partilcular of how graduates of certain universities use the abbreviations after their degrees. The best example I can think of off the top of my head is when you look at a department’s list of professors in a university. Usually, they write things like:
Dr. Jane Doe BA (Oxon), MA (Cantab), PhD (Dunelm)
Dr. John Doe BA (Toronto), MA (Bristol), PhD (McGill)
etc., etc.
Im wondering if there are any universities besides the ones that I’ve mentioned that regularly use latin abbreviations in a case like this.
I’ve reviewed a fair number of lawyer resumes - we likes our Latin, us lawyers - and I’ve never seen that at all, even among people holding Cambridge or Oxford degrees.
Perhaps other universities in Europe do this? I would think the very ancient ones, like the Sorbonne or Bologna, would be candidates.
Perhaps lawyers do not tend to use these abbreviations, but I’m sure that academics consistently do. For some random examples, check out this lists of faculty members on these pages:
http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/faculty/annrep01/2a.htm
Okay, that makes it a little clearer. I’ve never seen anybody in the US use anything other than the degree-granting institution’s English name or a shortened version thereof in a context such as Pearl Prynne, Ph.D (Whassamatta U.)
Heh, not to reintroduce an ead-day orse-hay, but the closest I can come to an American equivalent to this British usage is count something like Yersinia Pestis, B.A. (UVM), where the short form of the university’s name comes from the Latin name.
I would think US universities founded before 1850 or so, probably have Latinesque names on diploma.
Interesting - I’ve never seen U.S. academics use it either, though, so it may just be a European phenomenon. I can’t quite decide if it’s cool, or just unbearably twee! (Says the man with an Esq. after his name, professionally…)