DUNCE  , a slow or stupid

person, one incapable of learning . The word is derived from the name of the great schoolman, John Duns Scotus, whose works on logic, theology and philosophy were accepted text-books in the universities from the 14th century . " Duns " or Dunsman " was a name early applied by their opponents to the followers of Duns Scotus, the Scotists, and hence was equivalent to one devoted to sophistical distinctions and subtleties . When, in the 16th century, the Scotists obstinately opposed the " new learning," the term " duns " or " dunce " became, in the mouths of the humanists and reformers, a term of abuse, a synonym for one incapable of scholarship, a dull blockhead .