NK - Baccalaureate (was: A Northkeeper is graduating)

[Darin K. Herndon]

Actually, although the words sound simlar, baccalaureate and 
bacchanal don't have a common root word.  Baccalaureate is the Latin 
word for a Bachelor's degree, and the word bachelor is derived 
(through several stages) from the Latin "vacca" meaning cow. 
Apparently cowherds were generally single men.  Bacchanal, on the 
other hand, refers to the Roman god Bacchus (Dionysis to the Greeks) 
whose name comes from "bacca" meaning berry.

This info is from the Random House unabridged dictionary, the OED 
having moved on with the Herald's office.  :-(

Rosamund