Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Oxen of the Sun/397

Annotations
'''Div. Scep.'   (Dog Latin) Divinitatis Scepticus or Doubter of Divinity, a mock Latin academic degree analogous to D. D. (Divinitatis Doctor, or Doctor of Divinity''). In Latin, Scepticus was used in the plural (Sceptici) to denote the philosophical sect of Sceptics, who doubted all things.

'''Pubb. Canv.'    Public Canvasser'', a mock academic degree describing Bloom's occupation (canvasser for advertisments). The double bb suggests that Joyce is thinking of a Late Latin academic degree such as might have been conferred on a Scholastic scholar.