alma mater

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alma mater

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From Latin alma māter (literally “nourishing mother”). Derives from the full name ("Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna") of the oldest European university, the University of Bologna, founded in 1088.

• IPA^(key): /ˌælmə ˈmeɪtə(ɹ)/, /ˌælmə ˈmɑːtə(ɹ)/, /ˌɑːlmə ˈmɑːtə(ɹ)/

alma mater (plural almae matres or alma maters)

1. A school, college, or university which a person has graduated from or attended.
   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Evesham (1870)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58:

     I’m in the place where I grew up, where my alma mater is.

2. A school’s anthem or song.

Borrowed from Latin alma māter (“feeding mother”).

• IPA^(key): /ˌɑl.maː ˈmaː.tɛr/, /ˌɑl.maː ˈmaː.tər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: al‧ma ma‧ter

alma mater f (plural almae matres or alma maters)

1. alma mater (university one attended, especially one from which one has graduated)

From alma (“nourishing”) +‎ māter (“mother”)

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈal.ma ˈmaː.ter/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈal.ma ˈma.ter/,

alma māter f (genitive almae mātris); third declension

1. (Ancient Rome) mother goddess
2. (Medieval Christianity) Virgin Mary

First-declension adjective with a third-declension noun.

Unadapted borrowing from Latin alma māter.

alma mater f (invariable)

1. a person who provides for another
2. homeland (place where one was born)
3. alma mater (school or college from which an individual has graduated)

Unadapted borrowing from Latin alma māter.

• IPA^(key): /ˌalma ˈmateɾ/
• Syllabification: al‧ma ma‧ter

alma mater f (plural alma mater)

1. alma mater

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• “alma mater”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10