Alma mater (Latin: "nourishing mother"), pronounced UK: /ˈælmə ˈmeɪtər/, US: /ˈɑːlmə ˈmɑːtər/), 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.
[edit] General term
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 school.[3]
The expression is almost always used in the singular, but the Latin plural is almae matres.
Alma Mater Studiorum ("Nourishing Mother of Studies") is the motto and original name of the University of Bologna,[4] and other European universities, such as the Alma Mater Lipsiensis in Leipzig, Germany, have also used the expression in their names.
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.
[edit] Monuments
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 personified arts and sciences, painted in 1932 by Eugene Savage.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Definition of alma mater at Merriam-Webster Online