The subjoined passage, although it may not place the subject in any clearer light, will show the difference of opinion which exists in reference to the derivation of this work. Speaking of the exercises of Commencement at Cambridge Mass., in the early days of Harvard College, the writer says "But the main exercises were disputations upon questions wherein the respondents first made their Theses: For according to Vossius, the very essence of the Baccalaureat seems to lye in the thing: Baccalaureus being but a name corrupted of Batualius, which Batualius (as well as the French Bataile [Bataille]) comes à Batuendo, a business that carries beating in it: So that, Batualii fuerunt vocati, quia jam quasi _batuissent_ cum adversario, ac manus conseruissent; hoc est, publice disputassent, atque ita peritiæ suæ specimen dedissent."--_Mather's Magnalia_, B. IV. p. 128. The Seniors will be examined for the _Baccalaureate_, four weeks before Commencement, by a committee, in connection with the Faculty.--_Cal. Wesleyan Univ._, 1849, p. 22. BACHELOR. A person who has taken the first degree in the liberal arts and sciences, at a college or university. This degree, or honor, is called the _Baccalaureate_. This title is given also to such as take the first degree in divinity, law, or physic, in certain European universities. The word appears in various forms in different languages. The following are taken from _Webster's Unabridged Dictionary_. "French, _bachelier_; Spanish, _bachiller_, a bachelor of arts and a babbler; Portuguese, _bacharel_, id., and _bacello_, a shoot or twig of the vine; Italian, _baccelliere_, a bachelor of arts; _bacchio_, a staff; _bachetta_, a rod; Latin, _bacillus_, a stick, that is, a shoot; French, _bachelette_, a damsel, or young woman; Scotch, _baich_, a child; Welsh, _bacgen_, a boy, a child; _bacgenes_, a young girl, from _bac_, small. This word has its origin in the name of a child, or young person of either sex, whence the sense of _babbling_ in the Spanish. Or both senses are rather from shooting, protruding." Of the various etymologies ascribed to the term _Bachelor_, "the true one, and the most flattering," says the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, "seems to be _bacca laurus_. Those who either are, or expect to be, honored with the title of _Bachelor of Arts_, will hear with exultation, that they are then 'considered as the budding flowers of the University; as the small _pillula_, or _bacca_, of the _laurel_ indicates the flowering of that tree, which is so generally used in the crowns of those who have deserved well, both of the military states, and of the republic of learning.'--_Carter's History of Cambridge, [Eng.]_, 1753." BACHELOR FELLOW. A Bachelor of Arts who is maintained on a fellowship.