Sextans
A sextaner is a high school student in the fifth grade, in Switzerland the seventh grade. As a member of the lowest grade, he is one of the youngest students at a grammar school .
The name comes from the Reformation, when the division and naming of classes according to Roman ordinal numbers became common practice. At that time one counted down from the top class of the upper school. The lowest class, the sexta classis (from which the short form), was originally, as the Latin name suggests, the "sixth class". The underlying Latin ordinal number sextus "sixth" corresponds to the Latin cardinal number sex for "six". Despite countless restructuring in the school systems, this designation - like the corresponding designations of the other classes - has been partially retained in German-speaking countries to this day.
Expressions such as “in the style of a sextan” indicate an immature mode of expression. Also known is the "sextaner bubble" for a beer drinker who is more on the go than at the table.
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- ↑ Duden dictionary of origin