alma mater

Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase used to proclaim a school that a person has attended or, more usually, from which one has graduated. Alma mater is also a honorific title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. Later, in Catholicism, it became a title of Mary, mother of Jesus. The term entered academic use when the University of Bologna, Italy, founded in 1088 and world's oldest university in continuous operation, adopted the motto Alma Mater Studiorum ("nurturing mother of studies"). The term is related to alumnus, literally meaning a "nursling" or "one who is nourished", that frequently is used for a graduate.