Alma mater

Alma Mater statue by Daniel Chester French, 1903, Columbia University, New York City

Alma mater (Latin: alma mater, lit.'nourishing mother'; pl.: almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase used to proclaim a school that a person has attended or, more usually, from which one has graduated.[1][2][3] Alma mater is also a honorific title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele.[4] Later, in Catholicism, it became a title of Mary, mother of Jesus.

The term entered academic use when the University of Bologna, Italy, founded in 1088 and world's oldest university in continuous operation, adopted the motto Alma Mater Studiorum ("nurturing mother of studies").[5]

The term is related to alumnus, literally meaning a "nursling" or "one who is nourished", that frequently is used for a graduate.[6]

  1. ^ "alma", Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  2. ^ "Definition of 'Alma mater'". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  3. ^ Ayto, John (2005). Word Origins (2nd ed.). London: A&C Black. ISBN 9781408101605. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition
  5. ^ "BOLOGNA, L'UNIVERSITÀ PIÙ ANTICA DEL MONDO" (in Italian). Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2010). Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0199547937. Retrieved 18 May 2015.

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