Etymology of Campus

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Matthew calling from Princeton, New Jersey.

Well, hello, Matthew.

I have a question for you about the word campus.

Would you be near a campus there in Princeton, New Jersey?

Believe it or not, I am on the Princeton University campus at this very moment.

Oh, wow.

Wow, that’s like layers upon layers.

It’s like the cream of wheat box, you know, where you see the image of the guy on the cream of wheat box on the cream of wheat box.

Never mind.

I’ve never eaten cream of wheat, I’m afraid.

Never mind.

So, what’s up?

Well, so I’m an undergraduate here at Princeton, and on Saturdays I give tours to visitors.

And one of the anecdotes that guides are supposed to share goes like this.

It is believed that the word campus was introduced to the English language by Princeton’s sixth president, John Witherspoon.

President Witherspoon, who was accustomed to the urban universities of Scotland, was struck by Princeton’s rural setting where the college’s grounds consisted of a perfectly flat field with no enclosures.

He decided that campus, which is Latin for field or plane, would be an appropriate term to describe the college’s grounds.

And gradually, this term replaced the word yard, which had previously been in vogue, at colleges across the colonies.

Of course, Harvard, always being somewhat behind the times, insists on continuing to call its campus a yard.

So my question is, does the story have any truth to it?

I mean, the explanation of the words coming from Latin is correct, but do we have any evidence that the term campus actually originated at Princeton in the late 18th century?

Wow, awesome question. What are you studying there, Matthew?

I’m a religion major, so I study the history and anthropology and philosophy of religion.

Very good.

I want to ask if you’ve ever taken a circle line tour around Manhattan.

These are the boats that you pay for, and they take you around, and there’s some guy with a microphone telling you things about the buildings and the shores that you’re seeing.

You’ve ever done that?

I have not, but I’ve always wanted to.

The reason I ask is because you’re describing walking around campus telling people facts and things.

Reminds me of that, and I did that once with my parents about 10 years ago.

I did the Circle Line tour, and the guy was talking such rubbish.

I almost climbed up there and yanked the mic away from him.

But these are the kind of facts that he was spouting, and some of it was true, some of it was provably false, and some of it was dubious, but you couldn’t prove it either way.

And campus, you think, might actually be—do you think it’s true, or do you think it’s false?

Well, I mean, if it’s false, then that means that some Princetonian in the past fabricated this story, which I can not even begin to fathom how that would be possible.

Oh, sure do not. Saints all.

Oh, and so you don’t want to do anything unethical by promoting that story.

No, and I always preface it by saying it is believed that this is the case.

That sort of disclaimer, but I’m not sure if we know actually where the word came from, then maybe I shouldn’t even be saying that.

That’s very good.

That’s very wise to use that passive voice there.

It is believed.

That gets you through a lot, doesn’t it?

It does indeed.

Well, now, Matthew, you mentioned President, what was his name, Witherspoon?

Yes.

Would he have been president in, say, the 1770s?

Yes, he was president from 1768 to 1794.

Wow. Okay. Well, you know what?

I’m always very hesitant about attributing something to one particular person, and Grant, you are too, I’m sure.

Mm-Definitely.

It looks like the first reference I see for it is in 1774 at Princeton.

Oh, okay.

I’m looking at the Oxford English Dictionary.

It says first used at Princeton, New Jersey.

Huh.

So I don’t know if he…

It’s one of those really rare words that we actually know not only the origin of it, but the person.

Oh, okay.

It was President John Witherspoon.

I see.

How about that?

So now you can walk more proudly across the evergreen campus of Princeton as you spout these factoids.

Indeed, I intend to do so on my tour tomorrow.

Well, Matthew, thank you so much for your call.

I’m glad that we were able to confirm that you’re actually telling the truth every time you say that.

Great. Thank you so much.

All right. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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