Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1713-1716, 1926
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†LUMINATOR, n. In St Andrews University: a member of a class who in return for fees paid by the other students was made responsible for fire and light in the lecture room and for the attendance roll of the class. He appears to have attended lectures without payment and to have acted as a kind of personal servant to the regent of the class (Sc. 1952 W. C. Dickinson Two Students xxxvi.). Abolished about 1827. Cf. Janitor, 2.Sc. 1713–6 in W. C. Dickinson Two Students (1952) 76, xlix.:
To the Luminator . . . £3. 0. 0. . . . Mr Colin Vilant reported that he sent his Luminator to the two McKenzies to come to him.Fif. 1926 P. R. S. Lang Duncan Dewar 84:
The Luminator was appointed as the reward of merit at the annual bursary competition . . . Each Luminator received half-a-crown from each Secondar, and one-and-threepence from each Ternar. . . . To be appointed Luminator was equivalent to winning a small bursary.
