Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·latin ·1700s
Alma mater
from alma mater
- Meaning
- Nourishing mother — one's former school or college.
- Source word
- alma mater
- Route into English
- A Roman epithet for Ceres (the grain-mother); 17th-c. universities applied it to themselves.
- Arrived
- 1700s
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.