Candidate - Among Romans it was the custom for a man seeking office to wear a shining white robe. Since the

name for such a color was candidus (whence our "candid"), the office seeker came to be called candidate. In our

ceremonies the custom is reversed: the candidate is clothed after his election instead of before.

Cardinal- In Masonry we have "cardinal points" and "cardinal virtues." The Greeks had kradan, meaning, "swing

on," and the Romans had cardo, meaning"hinge." The roots mean that on which a thing swings, or hinges, on which

a thing depends or hangs, therefore anything that is of fundamental or pivotal, importance. A member of the Sacred

College of the Roman Church is a Cardinal because of the importance of his office, which ranks next in dignity to

that of the Pope. The cardinal points of the compass are those from which are determined all other points, north,

east, south, west; the cardinal virtues are those which are fundamental to all other virtues.

Ceremony- The Latin caerimonia referred to a set of formal acts having a sacred, or revered, character. A

ceremony differs from a merely formal act in that it has a religious significance; a formality becomes a ceremony only

when it is made sacred. A "ceremony" may be individual, or may involve only two per-sons; a rite" (see below under

"ritual") is more public, and necessarily involves many. An "observance" is public, as when the whole nation "

observes" Memorial Day. A "Master of Ceremonies" is one who directs and regulates forms, rites and ceremonies.

Charity- The Greeks had a word, charisma, meaning a gift, and a number of words from the same root, variously

suggesting rejoicing, gladness. The Latins had a similar word, carus, and meaning dear, possibly connected with am

or, signifying love. From these roots came "grace," meaning a free, unbought gift, as in the theological phrase, "the

grace of God," and "charity." Strictly speaking, charity is an act done freely, and spontaneously out of friendship, not

 as a civic duty and grudgingly, as is sometimes the case in public charity. The Masonic use of the word is much

nearer this original sense, for a Mason extends relief to a needy brother not as a duty but out of friendship.

Charter - In Latin charta was a paper, a card, a map; in Medieval Latin this became an official paper, as in the

case of "Magna Charta." Our "chart" and "card" are derived from the same root. A Masonic charter is the written

paper, or instrument, empowering a group of brethren to act as a Lodge.

Day - A period of twenty-four hours. The period between sunrise and sunset.

Death - The sleep after a person dies until the resurrection of a spiritual body.

Destruction of the Temple - The destruction of the Temple of Solomon was often prophecied and as predicted by God occured by the the armies of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C..

Distressed Worthy Brother - Masons go to the aid of a distressed worthy Brother.

Dotage - An old man in his dotage is one whose who has suffered the loss of judgment and memory and incapable

of comprehending the lessons of Freemasonry.

Eavesdropper- Early European peoples used a word in various forms - evese, obasa, opa, etc., -which meant the

rim, or edge, of something, like the edge of a field; it came in time to be applied wholly to the gutter which runs along

the edge of a roof. (Our "over" comes from this root.) "Dropper" had an origin among the same languages, and

meant that which drips, or dribbles, like water dropping from a thawing icicle. Eavesdrop, therefore, was the water

which dripped from the eaves. If a man set himself to listen through a window or keyhole to what was going on in a

house he had to stand so close that the eavesdropping would fall upon him, for which reason all prying persons,

seeking by secret means what they have no business to know, came to be called eavesdroppers.

Fellow- In Anglo Saxon lagu (from which we have "law") meant that which was permanently ordered, fixed, set;

fe meant property; fela suggested properties set together, in other words, a partnership. From this we have "fellow,"

a companion, mate, partner, an equal, a peer. A man became a "fellow" in a Medieval guild or corporation when

admitted a member on the same terms as all others, sharing equally in the duties, rights, and privileges. In Operative

Masonry, in order to be a fellow a man had to be a Master Mason, in the sense of having passed through his

apprenticeship, so that Masters were fellows and fellows were Masters. Prior to about 1740 "Fellow of the Craft"

and "Master Mason" referred to the same grade or degree, but at about that year a new division in ranking was

made, and "Fellow Craft" was the name given to the Second Degree in the new system, Master Mason to the Third.

Form- We speak of the "form of the Lodge," "due form," etc. The word is derived from the Latin forma, which

meant the shape, or figure, or frame of anything; also it was used of a bench, or seat, whence the old custom of

calling school benches "forms." It is the root of formal, formation, informal, and scores of other English words

equally familiar. The "form of the Lodge" is its symbolical shape; a ceremony is in "due form" if it have the officially

required character or framework of words and actions.

Fortitude - The key to the meaning of this magnificent word lies in its derivation from the Latin fords, meaning

strong, powerful, used in the Middle Ages of a stronghold, or fort. Force, enforce, fortify, fortification, forceful, are

from the same root. A man of fortitude has a character built strong like a fort, which can be neither taken by bribe

nor over-thrown by assault, however strong may be the enemy, or however great may be the suffering or

deprivation within. One is reminded of Luther's great hymn, "A mighty fortress is our God."

Fraternity- This the most prized, perhaps, of all words in Masonry, harks back to the Latin frater, which is so

closely allied to "brother," as already noted in the paragraph on that word. It gives us fra, frater, fraternize, and many other terms of the same import. A fraternity is a society in which the members strive to live in a brotherly concord patterned on the

family relations of blood brothers, where they are worthy of the tie. To be fraternal means to treat another man as if

he were a brother in the most literal sense.

Gage- Gage (also spelled “gauge”) has an uncertain ancestry. Early French and English peoples had gauger, gagen,

etc., which referred to the measuring of wine casks; some believe our “gallon” and “gill” to have been thus derived.

Its meaning became enlarged to include any kind of measuring, literally or figuratively. The instrument used to do the

measuring came to be called “the gage.” Among Operative Masons it was used to measure a stone for cutting to the

required “twenty-four-inch gage” is such a measuring rod or stick marked off into twenty-four inches.

Geometry- It is unfortunate that for most men schoolroom drudgery has robbed this beautiful word of its poetry.

The Greek geo (in compounds) was earth, land; metron was measure. The original geometer was a landmeasurer, a

surveyor, but his methods became broadened and applied to many other kinds of problems, so that at last his craft

became a portion of the art of mathematics. Geometry, that branch of mathematics which deals with figures in space, is associated in every Mason’s mind with the immortal Euclid, who figures 50 prominently in all the ancient Masonic manuscripts. It

achieved its great place in Freemasonry because of its constant and prime importance in the builders’ art.

Symbolically speaking geometry (to it the Letter G originally referred), consists of all those fixed principles and laws

of morality and of thought to which a right char-acter and a true mind adjust themselves.

Grammer- The Greeks had graphein, to write, or draw (from this we have graphic, engrave, etc.) ; gramma was

that which was written or drawn. Grammar now refers only to the skeletonal framework of language, its parts of

speech and their combinations, hut formerly it included all forms of learning based’ on language, such as rhetoric and

what is now taught in the schools as English; by the time our Monitor was written, however, grammar and rhetoric

had become differentiated, nevertheless the Monitorial portion of the Second Degree makes it plain that a Fellow

Craftis expected to be a literate man, knowing something of the arts of language in both speaking and writing. In

interpreting the Second Degree this wide meaning of “grammar must be kept in mind.

Grand- Grandis in the Latin meant great, large, awesome, especially in the sense of imposing; it was afterwards

applied to the aged, the ripe in experience, an application easy enough to understand when one recalls the

reverence paid by the Romans to seniority, long experi-ence, etc. this latter meaning appears in our grandfather,

grandmother, grandsire, etc. In English the word developed in two directions, one toward that which is great, large,

awe-in-spiring, as in “grandeur,” the other toward dignity, exalted power. Our own use of the term in “Grand”

Lodge, “Grand” East, “Grand” Master, harks back to the latter of the two usages. The head of the Craft is called “

Grand”’ Master because he is its most exalted official.

High Twelve- The Latin nonus referred to the ninth hour of the day, that is, nine hours after sunrise. In the

Medieval church it referred to the middle hour between midday and sunset, that is, about three o’clock P.M. In the

course ot time it came to refer to any part of the middle of the day, and finally to twelve o’clock. The origin of our “

High Twelve” is uncertain, but it is probable that it goes back to a time before “noon" was generally used for twelve

o’clock; the “high” doubtless refers to the sun, which at that time was at its highest point in the sky.

Hoodwink- “Hood” goes back to old German and Anglo Saxon, in which it referred to head covering, as in hat,

hood, helmet, etc.; “wink,” in the same languages, meant to close the eyes, “wench,” “wince,” etc., being similarly

derived. A hoodwink was therefore a headdress designed to cover the eyes. The popular use of the word is

believed to go back to the old sport of falconry, once so popular, in which the falcon had a hood over its eyes until

ready to strike at its prey.

Initiation- The Latin initium means beginning, as in our initial”; initiatus, the participle from the verb initiare, referred

to any act incident to the beginning or introduction of a thing. The word came widely into use in mysteries and sacred rites, whence it has come into our 4Masonic nomenclature. Back of it, as used by us, is the picture of birth, so that the Masonic

initiation means that a candidate has been born into the Masonic life, making the same kind of beginning therein that

a babe makes when born into the world.

Obligation- Obligate and oblige are sister words, deriving from the same Latin root, ob, a prefix meaning before,

or about; and ligare, meaning bind, as in our ligament. An obligation is a tie, or pledge, or bond’ by which a man is

tied to his fellows, or gives his word to perform certain duties. Accordingly we have obliging, referring to one who is

willing to bind himself to do something for you, obligatory, etc. The obligation is the tie, or bond, itself; in Masonry a

formal and voluntary pledge on the candidate’s part by virtue of which he is accepted as a responsible member of

the family of Masons.

Oblong- This has long been a puzzle word in Masonic nomenclature. How, it is asked, can a square be oblong,

when a square is equal on all its sides? The answer is that in this connection “square” is used in the sense of

rectangle; the angles are squared, not the sides. Oblong is derived from ob, near, or before, and longus, long; that is,

it means something approximately long, so that the main axis is much longer than the others, as a slender leaf, a shaft, etc. An “oblong square is a rectangle of which two opposite sides are much longer than the other two. The Lodge symbolically is an

oblong square in this sense.

Operative- We distinguish Operative Masons, builders of the Middle Ages, founders of Masonry, from

Spectulative Masons, present members of the Fraternity, using the builders’ tools as emblems and symbols. The

Latin for toil, or work, was opus, still used’ in that form in English to signify a musical or literary achievement. Opus

was the root of operari, to work, whence we have our operate, operative, operation, opera, operator, and many

others. The Operative Mason was one who toiled at building in the plain, literal sense of the word. “Speculative” will be explained farther down.

Ornament- Ornare was the Latin verb meaning to adorn, to equip, of which the noun was ama-men turn,

trappings, embellishment, furniture, etc., from which was derived our “adorn-ment” and “ornament.” In church usage “ornaments” was the name given to all the equipment used in the services of divine worship. We speak of the mosaic pavement, the

indent-ed tessel, and blazing star as “ornaments of the Lodge;” whether the term was used by Lodges originally

because they were considered to be adornments, or because they were part of the Lodge equipment it is impossible

 to say, though the latter alternative appears to be the more likely.