Bejan (Fr. ''bejaune'', from ''bec jaune'', "yellow beak," in allusion to unfledged birds, and the equivalent to Ger. ''Gelbschnabel'') was a term for freshmen, or undergraduates of the first year, in the Scottish universities. The term is rarely used today except at the University of Aberdeen; at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

the word has mutated to "Bejant" (female: Bejantine). The phrase was introduced from the French universities, where the levying of ''bejaunium'' ("footing-money") had been prohibited by the statutes of the university of Orleans in 1365 and by those of

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

in 1401. In 1493 the election of an ''Abbas Bejanorum'' (Abbot of the Freshmen) was forbidden in the

University of Paris The University of Paris (french: link=no, Université de Paris), Metonymy, metonymically known as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, active from 1150 to 1970, with the exception between 1793 and 1806 under the French Revo ...

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