The season of festive graduations provokes many profound questions: What time does the ceremony start? Where the heck can we park? How are we going to wheel grandma up there? When, dear God, will this thing end?

And then there's the music. As we listen to "Pomp and Circumstance" performed in its endless, droning majesty, we certainly understand the "Pomp" part, but why "Circumstance?" Does it refer perhaps to our current predicament as trapped onlookers?

"Circumstance" derives from the Latin root "circumstare" (to stand around in a circle), and this concept is still reflected in its meaning today: a determining condition or situation that surrounds us.

Though we sometimes speak of "happy circumstances," we use the word more often with a negative whiff, as in "reduced circumstances" and "circumstances beyond our control."

So why does the title of a song played at a celebratory occasion include this sour word?

"Circumstance" entered English during the 1200s with roughly its present meaning, but soon acquired a secondary definition: "the formalities that surround a ceremonial event."

William Shakespeare had this meaning in mind when he combined "circumstance" with "pomp" in Act III, scene iii of "Othello": "The royal banner, and all quality / Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!"

Inspired by Shakespeare's phrase, the English composer Sir Edward Elgar named a march he wrote in 1901 "Pomp and Circumstance." Its first performance as a graduation piece occurred at the 1905 Yale commencement.

Did someone say "commencement"?

That's another odd term. After all, a graduation marks a conclusion, not a beginning. The standard explanation is that this rite represents the commencement of the next phase of the students' lives. But the origin of the term is more specific and even a bit controversial.

During medieval times, students entered universities as apprentice teachers, and, upon completion of their studies, joined the teachers guild so they could begin their careers.

Hence, the ceremony marking their elevation came to be called a "commencement," derived from the Latin "cominitiare" (to begin together), from "com-" (with) and "initiare" (to begin).

One renegade etymologist has proposed an alternative theory, claiming that a "commencement" is so called because medieval graduates dined with their teachers at a common table ("com mensa" in Latin) following the ceremony.

But most linguists agree that this theory should be tabled.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

Photo credit: at Pixabay