Monday, 10 February 2025, 10:49 AM
Site: The Mason Word
Course: 1. Freemasonry for Non-Masons (Freemasonry for Non-Masons)
Glossary: Some Jargon Explained
I

Initiated

The completion by a candidate of the First Degree.

Installation

The act by which a Lodge Office-Bearer is installed to the position of authority he is to fill.  In Freemasonry it is, therefore, applied to the induction of one who has been elected into his office. 

The Officers of a Lodge, before they can proceed to discharge their functions, must be installed.  The ceremony is an old one, and does not pertain exclusively to Freemasonry.  The ancient Romans installed their priests, their kings, and their magistrates; but the ceremony was called inauguration, because performed generally by the augers. 

The word installation is of comparatively modern origin, being medieval Latin, and is compounded of in and stallum, meaning a seat.

L

Lodge

A group of Freemasons assembling under the authority of a charter issued by a Grand Lodge; also a building or a room where Freemasons meet.

M

Master Mason

The third of the Degrees involved in becoming a Freemason.  While the earlier terms (Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft) originate from the operative mason, the Third Degree dates only from the Eighteenth Century, and is wholly speculative.

O

Obligation

The solemn promise made by a Freemason on his admission into any Degree is technically called his obligation.  In a legal sense, obligation is synonymous with duty. 

Its derivation shows its true meaning, for the Latin word obligatio literally signifies a tying or binding.  The obligation is that which binds a man to do some act, the doing of which thus becomes his duty. 

By his obligation, a Freemason is bound or tied to his Order.

Operative Mason

An operative mason is an individual involved in working as a stonemason - actively involved in fashioning and building in stone.

P

Passed

The completion by a candidate of the Second Degree.

Profane

The word profane comes from two Latin words, "pro" meaning "before" and "fanum" meaning "temple". In earlier usage, profane had a more literal meaning of "outside the temple". It was simply an antonym for the term "sacred" just as "secular" still is. (Classical music lovers will note, for example, the Debussy work, "Danses sacrees et profanes" as a use of the same word in French with this meaning.)

In more recent usage, dating from well after the language of Masonry became fixed, the term profane was most often coupled with the term "language" to denote speech which would not have been uttered inside a temple or other sacred precincts. Gradually, this became the most common application of profane and, in the popular mind, became its only meaning. Profane became a synonym for swearing, cursing, and blasphemy, all of which are now called "profanity".

But when a Mason refers to profanes or the profane world, he means only those who are not initiated into Masonry and thus must remain "outside the temple". Nothing more; no insult is intended.

R

Raised

The completion by a candidate of the Third Degree.

Regular

A classification of Freemasonry that practices customs which conform to the "Basic Principles of Grand Lodge Recognition" agreed by individual sovereign Grand Lodges.