‖ pennal
(ˈpɛnəl)
[Ger. peˈnnāl pen-case, school-boy, a. med.L. pennāle pen-case, f. penna pen.]
Formerly, in German Protestant Universities, a slang name for a freshman, from their carrying about with them their pen-cases for use at lectures.
| 1882 in Ogilvie, and in later Dicts. |
Hence ˈpennalism [Ger. and mod.L. pennalismus], an oppressive system of fagging practised upon freshmen in German Universities in the 17th century. (Abolished about the end of the 17th c.)
| 1863 W. C. Dowding Life G. Calixtus iv. 24 Pennalism was a frightful system of ‘bullying’. Ibid. v. 31 It was they who held pennalism, with its terrors, in check. Ibid. xx. 183. |