Wordsmith.org
Posted By: wwh graduand - 03/22/04 04:50 PM
Date: Tue Aug 29 00:26:15 EDT 2000
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--graduand
graduand (GRAJ-oo-and) noun
A student who is about to graduate or receive a degree.

[From Middle Latin graduandus, gerundive of graduare to graduate.]



Posted By: dxb Re: graduand - 03/22/04 04:57 PM
It's amazing what lengths of 'word inventiveness' people have gone to just so they can use one word instead of two or three.

Posted By: jheem Re: graduand - 03/23/04 02:24 PM
It's a goodly place to point out that whereas English has a single -ing form (called present particple or gerund depending on its function, not its form), Latin has two forms: one, a present particple (a verbal adjective), ending in -Vns (e.g., amans), and two, a gerund or a gerundive (both verbal nouns), ending in -Vnd- (amandi, g.s.). Gerundives are also called future passive particples. While present particples are declined in all 5 cases, gerunds lack a nominative form. Here's a famous example of a gerundive: Carthago delenda est (Carthage must be destroyed / C. is to be destroyed). Of a gerundive: aqua utilis bibendo (water good for drinking) from Pliny.

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