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Alma mater

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

Alma mater (Latin: alma mater, lit.'nourishing mother'; pl. [rarely used] almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase used to identify a school, college or university that one formerly attended or graduated from.[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 adopted the motto Alma Mater Studiorum ("nurturing mother of studies"), to celebrate the university's historic status as the oldest and longest continuously operating university in the world.[5]

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

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Allegory

Allegory

As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughout history in all forms of art to illustrate or convey complex ideas and concepts in ways that are comprehensible or striking to its viewers, readers, or listeners.

School

School

A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education. An institution where higher education is taught is commonly called a university college or university.

College

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering vocational education, or a secondary school.

University

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the designation is reserved for colleges that have a graduate school.

Epithet

Epithet

An epithet, also byname, is a descriptive term known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It can also be a descriptive title: for example, Pallas Athena, Phoebus Apollo, Alfred the Great, Suleiman the Magnificent, and Władysław I the Elbow-high. Many English monarchs have traditional epithets: some of the best known are Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionheart, Æthelred the Unready, John Lackland and Bloody Mary.

Mother goddess

Mother goddess

A mother goddess is a goddess who represents a personified deification of motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction, or the earth goddess who embodies the bounty of the earth or nature. When equated with the earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as the Mother Earth or Earth Mother, deity in various animistic or pantheistic religions. The earth goddess is usually the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky Father or Father Heaven. In some polytheistic cultures, such as the Ancient Egyptian religion which narrates the cosmic egg myth, the sky is instead seen as the Heavenly Mother or Sky Mother as in Nut and Hathor, and the earth god is regarded as the male, paternal, and terrestrial partner, as in Osiris or Geb who hatched out of the maternal cosmic egg.

Ceres (mythology)

Ceres (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales. She was also honoured in the May lustratio of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival, at harvest-time, and during Roman marriages and funeral rites. She is usually depicted as a mature woman.

Cybele

Cybele

Cybele is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest neolithic at Çatalhöyük, where statues of plump women, sometimes sitting, accompanied by lionesses, have been found in excavations. Phrygia's only known goddess, she was probably its national deity. Greek colonists in Asia Minor adopted and adapted her Phrygian cult and spread it to mainland Greece and to the more distant western Greek colonies around the 6th century BC.

Mary, mother of Jesus

Mary, mother of Jesus

Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is a central figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. Other Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have considerably lesser status.

University of Bologna

University of Bologna

The University of Bologna is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (studiorum), it is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the first degree-awarding institution of higher learning. At its foundation, the word universitas was first coined. With over 90,000 students, it is the second largest university in Italy after La Sapienza in Rome.

Etymology

John Legate's Alma Mater for Cambridge in 1600
John Legate's Alma Mater for Cambridge in 1600

Although alma (nourishing) was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin.[7] In the Oxford Latin Dictionary, the phrase is attributed to Lucretius in his De rerum natura where he used the term as an epithet to describe an earth goddess:

Denique caelesti sumus omnes semine oriundi
omnibus ille idem pater est, unde alma liquentis
umoris guttas mater cum terra recepit (2.991–993)[8]

We are all sprung from that celestial seed,
all of us have same father, from whom earth,
the nourishing mother, receives drops of liquid moisture

After the fall of Rome, the term came into Christian liturgical usage in association with Mary, mother of Jesus. "Alma Redemptoris Mater" is a well-known eleventh century antiphon devoted to Mary.[7]

The earliest documented use of the term to refer to a university in an English-speaking country is in 1600, when the University of Cambridge printer, John Legate, began using an emblem for the university press.[9][10] The first-known appearance of the device is on the title-page of a book by William Perkins, A Golden Chain, where the Latin phrase Alma Mater Cantabrigia ("nourishing mother Cambridge") is inscribed on a pedestal bearing a nude, lactating woman wearing a mural crown.[11][12]

In English etymological reference works, often the first university-related usage is cited as 1710, when an academic mother figure is mentioned in a remembrance of Henry More by Richard Ward.[13][14]

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Ceres (mythology)

Ceres (mythology)

In ancient Roman religion, Ceres was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular Ludi Ceriales. She was also honoured in the May lustratio of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival, at harvest-time, and during Roman marriages and funeral rites. She is usually depicted as a mature woman.

Cybele

Cybele

Cybele is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest neolithic at Çatalhöyük, where statues of plump women, sometimes sitting, accompanied by lionesses, have been found in excavations. Phrygia's only known goddess, she was probably its national deity. Greek colonists in Asia Minor adopted and adapted her Phrygian cult and spread it to mainland Greece and to the more distant western Greek colonies around the 6th century BC.

Oxford Latin Dictionary

Oxford Latin Dictionary

The Oxford Latin Dictionary is the standard English lexicon of Classical Latin, compiled from sources written before AD 200. Begun in 1933, it was published in fascicles between 1968 and 1982; a lightly revised second edition was released in 2012.

Lucretius

Lucretius

Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem De rerum natura, a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, and which usually is translated into English as On the Nature of Things—and somewhat less often as On the Nature of the Universe. Lucretius has been credited with originating the concept of the three-age system that was formalised in 1836 by C. J. Thomsen.

De rerum natura

De rerum natura

De rerum natura is a first-century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics through poetic language and metaphors. Namely, Lucretius explores the principles of atomism; the nature of the mind and soul; explanations of sensation and thought; the development of the world and its phenomena; and explains a variety of celestial and terrestrial phenomena. The universe described in the poem operates according to these physical principles, guided by fortuna ("chance"), and not the divine intervention of the traditional Roman deities.

Mary, mother of Jesus

Mary, mother of Jesus

Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is a central figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. Other Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have considerably lesser status.

Alma Redemptoris Mater

Alma Redemptoris Mater

"Alma Redemptoris Mater" is a Marian hymn, written in Latin hexameter, and one of four seasonal liturgical Marian antiphons sung at the end of the office of Compline.

Antiphon

Antiphon

An antiphon is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominently in Ambrosian chant, but they are used widely in Gregorian chant as well. They may be used during Mass, for the Introit, the Offertory or the Communion. They may also be used in the Liturgy of the Hours, typically for Lauds or Vespers.

University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the third-oldest university in continuous operation.

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer.

Mural crown

Mural crown

A mural crown is a crown or headpiece representing city walls, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the Romans a military decoration. Later the mural crown developed into a symbol of European heraldry, mostly for cities and towns, and in the 19th and 20th centuries was used in some republican heraldry.

Henry More

Henry More

Henry More was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonist school.

Special use

Many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The Latin name of the University of Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum (nourishing mother of studies), refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. Other European universities, such as the Alma Mater Lipsiensis in Leipzig, Germany, or Alma Mater Jagiellonica, Poland, have used the expression similarly in conjunction with geographical or foundational characteristics. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, an international university founded by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 2010, uses the term as its official name.

In the United States, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the "Alma Mater of the Nation" because of its ties to the founding of the country.[15]

At Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the main student government is known as the Alma Mater Society.

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University of Bologna

University of Bologna

The University of Bologna is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (studiorum), it is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the first degree-awarding institution of higher learning. At its foundation, the word universitas was first coined. With over 90,000 students, it is the second largest university in Italy after La Sapienza in Rome.

List of oldest universities in continuous operation

List of oldest universities in continuous operation

This is a list of the oldest existing universities in continuous operation in the world.

Leipzig University

Leipzig University

Leipzig University, in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and his brother William II, Margrave of Meissen, and originally comprised the four scholastic faculties. Since its inception, the university has engaged in teaching and research for over 600 years without interruption.

Jagiellonian University

Jagiellonian University

The Jagiellonian University is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in continuous operation in the world. It is regarded as Poland's most prestigious academic institution. The university has been viewed as a guardian of Polish culture as well as a significant contributor to the intellectual heritage of Europe.

Alma Mater Europaea

Alma Mater Europaea

Alma Mater Europaea is an international university based in the Austrian city of Salzburg, with campuses in several European cities. It was founded as an initiative by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a learned society of around 2100 prominent scientists, including 33 Nobel laureates.

Salzburg

Salzburg

Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.

European Academy of Sciences and Arts

European Academy of Sciences and Arts

The European Academy of Sciences and Arts is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laureates. The European Academy of Sciences and Arts is a learned society of scientists and artists, founded by Felix Unger. The academy was founded 1990, is situated in Salzburg and has been supported by the city of Vienna, the government of Austria, and the European Commission. The EASA is now headed by President Klaus Mainzer, TUM Emeritus of Excellence at the Technical University of Munich and Senior Professor at the Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Center of the University of Tübingen.

College of William & Mary

College of William & Mary

The College of William & Mary is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity". In his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, Richard Moll included William & Mary as one of the original eight "Public Ivies".

Williamsburg, Virginia

Williamsburg, Virginia

Williamsburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is bordered by James City County on the west and south and York County on the east.

Queen's University at Kingston

Queen's University at Kingston

Queen's University at Kingston, commonly known as Queen's University or simply Queen's, is a public research university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Queen's holds more than 1,400 hectares of land throughout Ontario and owns Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England. Queen's is organized into eight faculties and schools.

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River. The city is midway between Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. Kingston is also located nearby the Thousand Islands, a tourist region to the east, and the Prince Edward County tourist region to the west. Kingston is nicknamed the "Limestone City" because of the many heritage buildings constructed using local limestone.

University of British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top three universities in Canada. With an annual research budget of $759 million, UBC funds over 8,000 projects a year.

Monuments

Alma Mater statue by Cyrus Dallin at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (Ladue, Missouri)
Alma Mater statue by Cyrus Dallin at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (Ladue, Missouri)
Alma Mater (1929, Lorado Taft), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Alma Mater (1929, Lorado Taft), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Alma Mater, University of Havana
Alma Mater, University of Havana

The ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant (e.g., at the Palatine Hill in Rome).

Modern sculptures of Alma Mater are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, most notably, a bronze statue of Alma Mater by Daniel Chester French situated on the steps of Columbia University's Low Library; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also has an Alma Mater statue that was created by Lorado Taft. Supporters of Washington University commissioned a sculpture for its affiliate Mary Institute by Cyrus Dallin in 1925. An altarpiece mural in Yale University's Sterling Memorial Library, painted in 1932 by Eugene Savage, depicts the Alma Mater as a bearer of light and truth, standing in the midst of the personified arts and sciences.

There is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the University of Havana, Cuba, which was based on the one at Columbia. The statue was cast in 1919 by Mario Korbel, with Feliciana Villalón Wilson as the inspiration for Alma Mater. It was installed in its current location in 1927, at the direction of architect Raul Otero.[16]

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Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School

Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School

MICDS (Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School) is a secular, co-educational, independent school home to more than 1,250 students ranging from grades Junior Kindergarten through 12. Its 110-acre (45 ha) campus is located in the St. Louis suburb of Ladue.

Alma Mater (Illinois sculpture)

Alma Mater (Illinois sculpture)

The Alma Mater, a bronze statue by sculptor Lorado Taft, is a beloved symbol of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The 10,000-pound statue depicts a mother-figure wearing academic robes and flanked by two attendant figures representing "Learning" and "Labor", after the University's motto "Learning and Labor." Sited at the corner of Green and Wright Streets at the heart of the campus, the statue is an iconic figure for the university and a popular backdrop for student graduation photos. It is appreciated for its romantic, heraldic overtones and warmth of pose. The statue was removed from its site at the entrance to the university for restoration in 2012 and was returned to its site in the spring of 2014.

Palatine Hill

Palatine Hill

The Palatine Hill, which relative to the seven hills of Rome is the centremost, is one of the most ancient parts of the city and has been called "the first nucleus of the Roman Empire." The site is now mainly a large open-air museum while the Palatine Museum houses many finds from the excavations here and from other ancient Italian sites.

Alma Mater (New York sculpture)

Alma Mater (New York sculpture)

Alma Mater is a bronze sculpture by Daniel Chester French which is located on the steps of the Low Memorial Library on the campus of Columbia University, in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. French designed the statue in 1901, and it was installed in September 1903. It is a personification of the alma mater, which represents Columbia in its role as an educational institution; since its installation, the statue has become closely associated with the image of the university.

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture The Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monumental statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhattan, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York, the fifth-oldest in the United States, and one of nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence.

Lorado Taft

Lorado Taft

Lorado Zadok Taft was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, The History of American Sculpture, was the first survey of the subject and stood for decades as the standard reference. He has been credited with helping to advance the status of women as sculptors.

Cyrus Edwin Dallin

Cyrus Edwin Dallin

Cyrus Edwin Dallin was an American sculptor best known for his depictions of Native Americans. He created more than 260 works, including the Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere in Boston; the Angel Moroni atop Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City; and Appeal to the Great Spirit (1908), at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was also an accomplished painter and an Olympic archer.

Sterling Memorial Library

Sterling Memorial Library

Sterling Memorial Library (SML) is the main library building of the Yale University Library system in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Opened in 1931, the library was designed by James Gamble Rogers as the centerpiece of Yale's Gothic Revival campus. The library's tower has sixteen levels of bookstacks containing over 4 million volumes. Several special collections—including the university's Manuscripts & Archives—are also housed in the building. It connects via tunnel to the underground Bass Library, which holds an additional 150,000 volumes.

Eugene Savage

Eugene Savage

Eugene Francis Savage was an American painter and sculptor known for his murals in the manner made official under the Works Projects Administration. He also is known for his work on the Bailey Fountain in Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, New York, the mural Videbimus Lumen in the Butler Library of Columbia University, and the Alma Mater mural featured in the Sterling Memorial Library on the campus of Yale University.

University of Havana

University of Havana

The University of Havana is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas. Originally a religious institution, today the University of Havana has 15 faculties (colleges) at its Havana campus and distance learning centers throughout Cuba.

Mario Korbel

Mario Korbel

Mario Joseph Korbel was a Czech-American sculptor.

Source: "Alma mater", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 6th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_mater.

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References
  1. ^ "alma", oxforddictionaries.com. 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. ^ "Our history – University of Bologna". Unibo.it. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2010). Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins. Oxford University Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0199547937. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  7. ^ a b Sollors, Werner (1986). Beyond Ethnicity: Consent and Descent in American Culture. Oxford University Press. p. 78. ISBN 9780198020721.
  8. ^ Titus Lucretius Carus. "Liber II" . De rerum natura  (in Latin) – via Wikisource.
  9. ^ Stokes, Henry Paine (1919). Cambridge stationers, printers, bookbinders, &c. Cambridge: Bowes & Bowes. p. 12. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  10. ^ Roberts, S. C. (1921). A History of the Cambridge University Press 1521–1921. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  11. ^ Stubbings, Frank H. (1995). Bedders, Bulldogs and Bedells: A Cambridge Glossary (2nd ed.). p. 39.
  12. ^ Perkins, William (1600). A Golden Chaine: Or, the Description of Theologie, containing the order and causes of salvation and damnation, according to God's word. Cambridge: University of Cambridge. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  13. ^ Harper, Douglas. "Alma mater". Online Etymological Dictionary. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  14. ^ Ward, Richard (1710). The Life of the Learned and Pious Dr. Henry More, Late Fellow of Christ's College in Cambridge. London: Joseph Downing. p. 148. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  15. ^ "William & Mary – History & Traditions". wm.edu.
  16. ^ Cremata Ferrán, Mario. "Dos rostros, dos estatuas habaneras". Opus Habana. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
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