Grecian

I'm not familiar with this use, but from the context it seems to mean that he studied Greek (classical Greek, that is) at school. This probably harks back to the days when English public schoolboys were routinely taught Latin and Greek.

So why are they called Grecian if they learned Latin?

Hi Anon:

Because Xenophon was an ancient Greek writer.
All students learned Latin (I had 4 years of it in High School myself!), but only the most classically educated studied Greek as well.
Latin is scholarly, but Greek is erudite.

AnonymousSo why are they called Grecian if they learned Latin?

I was making two points. "Grecian" specifically means that he studied Greek. The use of the term, and the expectation that anyone would understand what it meant, probably harks back to the time when the classical languages of Greek and Latin were commonly taught to public schoolboys. Nowadays, if y

Thanks to all of you.

Grecian is a level, in U.S. English a grade. My son was a Grecian at his English boarding school before he went to university In the 1990s.

What grade level is it? Senior? I've heard of A-levels and O-levels.
I have not heard this term used in connection with boarding schools.

At Christ's Hospital, The Grecians are those pupils in what in many state schools would be called Year 13, and in many independent schools would be the Upper Sixth.

So the name is particular to an institution? The UK school system is really different than that in the US!

Were school boys of this era not 'started' on Latin and, later, if they showed an aptitude for such study, passed on to the study of Greek? Is this not, perhaps, something like saying, "I made it as far as my Junior, or Senior, year, sir."