Alma mater
Alma mater (Latin: "nourishing mother"), pronounced /ˈælmə ˈmeɪtər/ (UK), /ˈɑlmə ˈmɑtər/ (US), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele,[1] and in Medieval Christianity for the Virgin Mary.
In modern times, it is often a school, college, or university attended during one's formative years,[1] which is often interpreted to mean from where one earned one's first degree or doctorate, or both.[2] The term may also refer to a song or hymn associated with a university or college.[3]
The expression is almost always used in the singular, but the Latin plural is almae matres.
On the campus of Columbia University on the steps of Low Library there is a well known bronze statue of Alma Mater by Daniel Chester French. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign also has an Alma Mater statue by Lorado Taft. A mural in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library depicts alma mater as a bearer of light and truth standing in the midst of the personafied arts and sciences, painted in 1932 by Eugene Savage.
Alma Mater Studiorum ("Nourishing Mother of Studies") is also the motto of the University of Bologna, the oldest continually operating university in the world, founded in 1088.[4]
At Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, as well as at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, their main student government is known as the Alma Mater Society.
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- Definition of alma mater at Merriam-Webster Online
