Pitt on the Origins of the Baccalaureate degree
Martin J Pitt, Learned and taught in lots of ways, some of them effective
Answered Mar 25, 2016
Historically, there were three standards for academic qualification:
Bachelor, Master and Doctor
Bacheler (pronounced bash) was firstly the basic qualification for a knight. (The term knight bachelor is also used.) This was a young man who had learned how to bash people and had other attributes (mainly money and family) so that he did not have to work. However, a certain standard of use of arms had been achieved for him to receive this recognition. He had to do more in order to be a full knight with his own standard.
As not all young men of good families wanted to spend their time with swords, it began to be used for a man qualified in other areas, such as a Bachelor of Law, or just one of an age and income to be worth marrying.
The early versions of universities worked in Latin, so converted the English word to an invented Latin one of baccalaurus, which later led to the baccalaureate. (This is also basically a sort of Latin joke, referring to the laurel crown given to a winner.)
A higher level of proficiency was then required for someone to be pronounced a Master. Further achievements allowed some men to be considered sufficiently knowledgeable to be academic teachers, for which the Latin word Doctor (meaning teacher) was applied. This usually meant he had written a book on the subject.