Hoya Saxa ( ) is the official cheer and "college yell" of

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

and its athletics teams. The term is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

word usually transliterated from as from the word () meaning "such" or "what" as in "what manner of", and is used in certain biblical quotations. ' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "rocks" or "small stones". It was used in the name of some Roman settlements, such as

Saxa Rubra Saxa Rubra was a village and station on the Roman Flaminian Way, from Rome, Italy. It is now the name of a neighborhood north of Rome and of the city's Roma Nord railway station. Situated on the modern Via Flaminia it is also the site of a major ...

. Before 1900, students at Georgetown were required to study classical linguistics, and both words are in the neuter plural of their respective languages. The phrase together is generally translated into English as "what rocks!", though other translations have suggested "such rocks!" or "great rocks!" or even "what rocks?" as a question. It was also historically rendered as "Hoya, Hoya, Saxa!", a form that is used in "The Hoya Song" from 1930 which mocked the cheers of other universities, and was then included in the school fight song, "

There Goes Old Georgetown "There Goes Old Georgetown"Listen is the unofficial name of the Georgetown University sports teams' fight song. It is also known as simply "Georgetown Fight Song". It is actually an amalgamation of three songs, only the oldest of which, 1913's ...

". The phrase was first used at Georgetown University sometime before 1893, when it was noted in publications about Georgetown's football games against

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

. By 1894, chanting the phrase was considered a well-established tradition, and its use at commencement and alumni celebrations was also published. The exact origin or original use of the cheer is however unknown. Probable theories suggest it either refers to the stalwart defense of the football team or to one of the baseball teams, which was named the "Stonewalls". The baseball team was founded in 1870 while the football team formed in 1874, and the cheer was used at both sports' events by the 1890s. It might also refer to the actual stone wall that surrounds the campus, for which the baseball team was named. By the 1920s, the term ''hoya'' began to be used as an adjective to describe students and their associations on campus, starting with the student-run sports newspaper ''

The Hoya ''The Hoya'', founded in 1920, is the oldest and largest student newspaper of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., serving as the university’s newspaper of record. ''The Hoya'' is a student-run paper that prints every Friday and publish ...

'' in 1920, and the

school mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fict ...

in 1926. By 1929, the term ''Hoyas'' was applied to the athletics teams themselves by publications like ''

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''.

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W. Coleman Nevils William Coleman Nevils (May 29, 1878October 12, 1955) was an American Catholic Church, Catholic priest and Society of Jesus, Jesuit educator who became the head of numerous Jesuit institutions throughout the northeastern United States, includ ...

(1928–1935) encouraged this, and he was known to have suggested the name "Hoiah" be used at his previous school,

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

, for their student newspaper. Since the early 1990s, the phrase has been painted in large letters on an abandoned trolley trestle by the university's Canal Road entrance. The sign is an occasional target of vandalism because of its association with school spirit. Word plays and rhymes using the phrase are common, including "Hoya Snaxa", the student-run snack shop. The school also hosts a "Hoya Saxa Weekend" each spring to attract minority applicants through a weekend campus immersion.

References

{{Georgetown Hoyas men's soccer navbox Georgetown University Greek words and phrases Latin words and phrases

See also

References