Alma mater

For other uses, see Alma mater (disambiguation).
The Alma Mater statue at Columbia University in New York City. Cast by Daniel Chester French (1903).

Alma mater (Latin: alma mater; pl.: almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning 'nourishing mother'. It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from.[1][2][3] The term is related to alumnus, literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a school graduate.[4]

In its earliest usage, alma mater was an honorific title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele.[5] Later, in Catholicism, it became a title for Mary, mother of Jesus. By the early 17th century, the nursing mother became an allegory for universities. Used by many schools in Europe and North America, it has special association with the University of Bologna, whose motto Alma Mater Studiorum ("nurturing mother of studies") emphasizes its role in originating the modern university.

Several university campuses in North America have artistic representations of alma mater, depicted as a robed woman wearing a laurel wreath crown.

  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. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2010). Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0199547937. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition