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A young boy wearing a dunce cap in class, from a staged photo c.1906

A dunce cap, also variously known as a dunce hat, dunce's cap, or dunce's hat, is a pointy hat. In popular culture, it is typically made of paper and often marked with a D or the word "dunce", and given to schoolchildren to wear as punishment by public humiliation for misbehaviour and, as the name implies, stupidity. While this is now a rare practice, it is frequently depicted in popular culture such as animated television series.

A very similar practice on the European continent was a paper headdress known as donkey's ears, as a symbol of 'asinine' stupidity.

Origins

The word "dunce" means dull-witted or an ignorant person, and comes from the name of Bl. John Duns Scotus. He wrote treatises on grammar, logic, and metaphysics.

King Philip IV of France wanted to tax the church in order to finance his war in England, but Pope Boniface VIII threatened to excommunicate him instead. Duns Scotus supported the pope and was banished from France, later taking up a university professorship in Germany. Those who disagreed with Scotus' teachings started referring to his supporters by the word 'dunce', which meant 'stupid or dull witted'. Duns' books on theology, philosophy, and logic were university textbooks. His followers were later challenged about their system of hair-splitting and distinctions. Their obstinacy over an increasing array of challenges posed first by humanists and then by reformers led to the term "dunses" to denote fools in general.

The Tribunal of the Inquisition as illustrated by Francisco de Goya

Dunce caps were used in the tribunals of the Spanish Inquisition for questioning heretics. Originally several feet high, these hats also became infamous through the paintings of Francisco de Goya.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition), "dunce cap" didn't enter the English language until after the term "dunce" was so transformed. John Ford's 1624 play The Sun's Darling is the first recorded mention of the related term "dunce table," a table provided for duller or poorer students; "dunce cap" appears first in the 1840 novel The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

External links

• "What's the origin of the dunce cap?", from The Straight Dope website
• "Dunces corner banned. The dunce cap was an aid to learning.", from Spd Rdng website