Alex delivering his salutatorian address at Hermann High School graduation, 2014
When I posted photos of our trip to Hermann, Missouri for Saturday Snapshot, I mentioned that our nephew was salutatorian for his class. Louise of A Strong Belief in Wicker asked about the title in a comment. What a good Wondrous Words Wednesday idea during graduation season!
One thing I learned was that the concepts of valedictorian and salutatorian come from early years of American universities and have been adopted by high schools and colleges in only some parts of the world – Wikipedia claims the US, Canada, and the Philippines. No wonder Louise wasn’t clear on the term since she lives in Australia.
I knew that the valedictorian was the first in the class and the salutatorian was second, but I was surprised to find out that the words meant something entirely different.
Salutatorian is related to salutation and salute. In a letter, the salutation is the “Dear …” line. The salutatorian is given that title because his or her job is to give the first, or salutatory, speech at the commencement ceremony.
There’s a word valediction that is the opposite of salutation. In a letter, it’s the “Sincerely” or “Yours truly.” The valedictorian’s job is to give the final speech of the commencement ceremony.
Did you know these words?
