Among the many phrases, sentences, Latin maxims that survive in the cultural wealth of the West there are some that have been particularly fortunate. One of them is definitely \u00abalma mater\u00bb.<\/b><\/p>\n
\n\t"Alma<\/em>" is the feminine form of the adjective "Almus,-a,-um<\/em>", derived from the same root as the verb "alo<\/em>"; it means feed, sustain, take care<\/em>, so that "alma<\/em>" means nurturing<\/em>, life-giving, fertile, and other nuances associated with the word it qualifies, as a favourable, propitious, encourages, benefactress.<\/p>\n \n\tFrom the same root is logically "alimentum<\/em>", food<\/em>, and also "alumnus<\/em>", fed, bred and therefore child who grows, and if he raises or is educated intellectually, he will be disciple.<\/p>\n \n\tIn ancient Rome this adjective was attached to the title of some goddesses as Mother Cybele <\/em>or Ceres<\/em> or Venus<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tSo Virgil<\/em>, in the beginning of his great poem dedicated to life in the countryside, Georgicae<\/em>, just started with the reference to his patron Maecenas<\/em>, starting from verse 5 goes to the stars and the gods, including Ceres<\/em>, the goddess of agriculture (think of the name to refer to cereal <\/em>grains like wheat and other guaranteed by the favor of the goddess):<\/p>\n \n\t... O universal lights \n\t….. Vos , o clarissima mundi \n\t‘Kindly mother of the twin Cupids, favour me!’ I said. \n\t'Alma, fave', dixi 'geminorum mater Amorum'; \n\tAnd another time Ovid in Book XV, 843 ff.<\/em> of his Metamorphoses <\/em>also refers to Venus <\/em>as nutrient in the passage in which the goddess collects in the Senate the soul of killed Caesar <\/em>and rises to the heavens:<\/p>\n \n\tHe scarcely ended had theis woordes, but Venus out of hand \n\tVix ea fatus erat, medi cum sede senatus \n\tAnd also the same Ovid <\/em>in the same Book IV of the above quoted Fasti verses, now Fasti IV, 317 ff.,<\/em> describing the arrival of the Mother Goddess Cybele<\/em> to the port of Ostia<\/em>, near Rome, in the year 204 BC also calls her "alma<\/em>":<\/p>\n \n\tAnd, with loosened hair, uttered these words: \n\tsummissoque genu voltus in imagine divae \n\tHorace applies it to the Muses<\/em>, the Camenae<\/em>: Almae Musae<\/em> (feeder and-promoting the arts and sciences) in Book III, Ode IV<\/em> for example, v. 42<\/p>\n \n\tYou, beneficent deities, give the sweet consolation \n\tvos lene consilium et datis et dato \n\tThen Christians <\/em>claimed it logically to the Virgin Mary<\/em>. A peculiar thing I will say that in 2009 the Vatican itself has released a CD entitled "Alma Mate<\/em>r", dedicated to the Virgin Mary <\/em>religious songs of Pope Benedict XVI<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tBut since the Middle Ages<\/em> the term "alma mater" is applied especially to the University<\/em>, Universitas Studiorum<\/em>, real mother nurturing the minds and spirits of students moving through Europe: Bologna (founded already in 1088 ), Paris, Salamanca, Coimbra, Oxford …<\/p>\n \n\t"Universitas, Universit<\/em>y" means community, corporation, joint group, college.<\/p>\n \n\tUniversitas magistrorum et scholarium<\/em> is thus the community of teachers and students or as they say in The Seven-Part Code<\/em> (The Siete Partidas ), or Book of Laws<\/em> published in the reign of Alfonso X <\/em>the Wise (1252-1284): Ayuntamiento de maestros et de escolares que es fecho en algún logar con voluntat et con entendimiento de aprender los saberes<\/em>” "City of teachers and students made somewhere with willing et understanding to learn the knowledge<\/strong><\/em>" (Partid. II, Title XXXI, Law 1)<\/p>\n \n\tIt is logical, therefore, to appear, even in the last stanza of the famous university hymn, widespread throughout the world, Gaudeamus igitur<\/em>, whose letter is perhaps from the thirteenth century:<\/p>\n \n\tMay our Alma Mater thrive, \n\tAlma Mater floreat \n\tIf the university <\/em>is "alma mater<\/em>", it is logical to call “alumni<\/em>”, students young or not so young who nourish the know. Above is explained the meaning of "alumnus<\/em>".<\/p>\n \n\tNote also that there is the term "alma parens<\/em> ". For example, it is used by Virgil in Book II, v. 588<\/em> of the Aeneid, referring to Venus<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tSo I raved, \n\tTalia iactabam, et furiata mente ferebar: \n\tAnd later in Book X, v. 215<\/em>, now referring to Cibeles<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tDay now had left the sky. The moon benign \n\tIamque dies caelo concesserat almaque curru \n\tAnd in the same Book X, v. 251 ff.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThen in few words \n\t \n\tAnd in Book XI, v.557 ff.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t‘Latona's daughter, whose benignant grace \n\t“Alma, tibi hanc, nemorum cultrix, Latonia virgo, \n\tIt should be known that the Latin word "parens<\/em>" (related to "pario<\/em>", give birth, produce<\/em>, raise) designates both father and mother. What is an unacceptable error, indicating considerable ignorance, is to build the phrase "alma pater<\/em>" because "pater<\/em>" only refers to "father<\/em>", masculine, and "alma<\/em>" is a feminine form, nurturing.<\/p>\n \n\tNaturally, it is also a remarkable mistake to confuse Latin adjective "alma<\/em>", nurturing<\/em>, with the Spanish noun "alma<\/em>", spirit, term derived from "anima<\/em>". By the way, all the "animals<\/em>", as the name suggests, have "anima<\/em>" or spirit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Among the many phrases, sentences, Latin maxims that survive in the cultural wealth of the West there are some that have been particularly fortunate. One of them is definitely \u00abalma mater\u00bb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,8,14,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-education","category-gods-religion","category-language-literature","category-mythology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\tMost glorious! ye that lead the gliding year
\n\tAlong the sky, Liber and Ceres mild,
\n\tIf by your bounty holpen earth once changed
\n\tChaonian acorn for the plump wheat-ear,<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t… (J. B. Greenough, Ed.)<\/p>\n
\n\tLumna, labentem caelo quae ducitis annum,
\n\tLiber et alma Ceres, vestro si numine tellus
\n\tChaoniam pingui glandem mutavit arista,<\/em>
\n\t…
\n\tAnd so Ovid <\/em>begins his IV book of Fasti<\/em> referring to Venus <\/em>as nurturing with the verses:<\/p>\n
\n\tShe glanced back towards her poet: ‘Why do you
\n\tNeed me?’ she said. ‘Surely, you sing greater themes.
\n\tHave you some old wound lingering in your heart?’
\n\t‘Goddess, ‘ I replied, ‘you know my wound.’ She laughed,
\n\tAnd the sky immediately cleared in her direction.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Translated by A. S. Kline)<\/p>\n
\n\t ad vatem voltus rettulit illa suos;
\n\t'quid tibi' ait 'mecum? certe maiora canebas.
\n\t num vetus in molli pectore volnus habes?'
\n\t'scis, dea', respondi 'de volnere.' risit, et aether 5
\n\t protinus ex illa parte serenus erat.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tAmid the Senate house of Rome invisible did stand,
\n\tAnd from her Caesars bodye tooke his new expulsed spryght
\n\tThe which shee not permitting to resolve to ayer quyght,
\n\tDid place it in the skye among the starres that glister bryght<\/em><\/strong>
\n\t(Arthur Golding, Ed.)<\/p>\n
\n\tconstitit alma Venus nulli cernenda suique
\n\tCaesaris eripuit membris nec in aera solvi
\n\tpassa recentem animam caelestibus intulit astris<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\t“ Kind and fruitful Mother of the Gods, accept
\n\tA suppliant’s prayers, on this one condition:
\n\tThey deny I’m chaste: let me be guilty if you condemn me:
\n\tConvicted by a goddess I’ll pay for it with my life.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Translated by A. S. Kline)<\/p>\n
\n\tfigit, et hos edit crine iacente sonos:
\n\t"supplicis, alma, tuae, genetrix fecunda deorum,
\n\taccipe sub certa condicione preces.
\n\tcasta negor: si tu damnas, meruisse fatebor;
\n\tmorte luam poenas iudice victa dea;<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tand ye rejoice for giving it<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tgaudetis, almae. …<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tA font of education;
\n\tFriends and colleagues, where'er they are,
\n\tWhether near or from afar,
\n\tHeed her invitation.<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t (Trans. by J. Mark Sugars, 1997<\/p>\n
\n\tquae nos educavit,
\n\tcaros et conmilitones
\n\tdissitas in regiones
\n\tsparsos congregavit.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tand to such frenzied purpose gave my soul.
\n\tThen with clear vision (never had I seen
\n\ther presence so unclouded) I beheld,
\n\tin golden beams that pierced the midnight gloom,
\n\tmy gracious mother, visibly divine,
\n\tand with that mien of majesty she wears
\n\twhen seen in heaven;<\/strong><\/em>
\n\t(Theodore C. Williams, Ed.)<\/p>\n
\n\tcum mihi se, non ante oculis tam clara, videndam
\n\tobtulit et pura per noctem in luce refulsit
\n\talma parens, confessa deam, qualisque videri
\n\tcaelicolis et quanta solet,<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\thad driven her night-wandering chariot
\n\tto the mid-arch of heaven. Aeneas sate,
\n\tfor thought and care allowed him no repose,
\n\tholding the helm and tending his own sails.
\n\tbut, as he sped, behold, the beauteous train,
\n\tlately his own, of nymphs, anon transformed
\n\tby kind Cybebe to sea-ruling powers.
\n\tIn even ranks they swam the cloven wave,—
\n\tnymphs now, but once as brazen galleys moored
\n\talong the sandy shore.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tnoctivago Phoebe medium pulsabat Olympum:
\n\tAeneas (neque enim membris dat cura quietem)
\n\tipse sedens clavumque regit velisque ministrat.
\n\tAtque illi medio in spatio chorus ecce suarum
\n\toccurrit comitum: nymphae, quas alma Cybebe
\n\tnumen habere maris nymphasque e navibus esse
\n\tiusserat, innabant pariter fluctusque secabant,
\n\tquot prius aeratae steterant ad litora prorae.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\twith eyes upturned to heaven he made his prayer:
\n\t“Mother of gods, O Ida's Queen benign,
\n\twho Iovest Dindymus and towns with towers,
\n\tand lion-yokes obedient to thy rein,
\n\tbe thou my guide in battle, and fulfil
\n\tthine augury divine. In Phrygia's cause
\n\tbe present evermore with favoring power!”
\n\tHe spoke no more.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tTum breviter super adspectans convexa precatur:
\n\t“Alma parens Idaea deum, cui Dindyma cordi
\n\tturrigeraeque urbis biiugique ad frena leones,
\n\ttu mihi nunc pugnae príncipes, tu rite propinques
\n\taugurium Phrygibusque adsis pede, diva, secundo.
\n\tTantum effatus.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tprotects this grove, behold, her father now
\n\tgives thee this babe for handmaid!
\n\tLo, thy spear
\n\ther infant fingers hold, as from her foes
\n\tshe flies a suppliant to thee! Receive,
\n\tO goddess, I implore, what now I cast
\n\tupon the perilous air.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\n\tipse pater famulam voveo; tua prima per auras
\n\ttela tenens supplex hostem fugit.<\/em><\/p>\n