La expresión alma mater en español
En inglés la expresión "alma mater" se usa para la universidad de la que uno es un exalumno. Creo que ese es un uso correcto.
En esta zona del mundo , absolutamente nadie lo usa con ese significado sino con otro que creo que es incorrecto.
¿Qué sucede en España, México o cualquier otro país hispanoparlante?
Este tema lo saqué de La Palabra del Día" y fue sugerido por rac.
7 Answers
I just tried to add a dozen links from newspapers and articles featuring the "incorrect" use. I spent too much time already and I'm getting an error every time. Please google "alma mater del equipo" and "alma mater del grupo" with the quote marks. You will find plenty of articles and news from Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, and many other countries.
I'll try later to edit this and see if I can post some.
Interesante. Aparentemente en España (gracias Google) tambien se usa para las universidades. Yo, personalmente, ni conocía este significado y siempre usé esta expresión para referirme a personas.
Maybe one day the meaning Guillermo and I know could be accepted at least as a second meaning of maybe not. And incredibly it Is so widely used with this"incorrect" meaning and the meaning of "university" Is not even known in our Spanish and maybe somewhere else either
So far at least it Is an interesting fact.
En nuestro país también utilizan aun ahora esta expresión, porque aquí hace siglos la elite de la sociedad habló la lengua latina y así entre la gente instruida quedaron muchos expresiones latinas.
In our country they also use this expression even now, because here for centuries the elite of society spoke the Latin language and thus among the educated people there remained many Latin expressions.
Exactly like Porcu says. Alma Mater is a Latin phrase not an English one, and is one of the many Latin phrases that we use in common English. Others include
ad hoc
ad nausean
bona fide
caveat emptor
circa
de facto
ergo
etc.
habeas corpus
in vitro
in vivo
per (per annum, per capita, per se)
post mortem
quid pro quo
re
status quo
terra firma
vs. (versus, vice versa)
persona non grata
It is used in the UK by some people referring to their Medical school and to university, but depending on who uses it, it is formal or ironic/jokey. I don't use it, maybe because although I learned Latin I did not go to a public school (British for an expensive private school)
It may be more popular with the people who went to the more traditional universities.
I tend to hear it more on American programmes.
When I graduated I became part of the convocation which was the organisation for graduates, but now they have associations for the alumni of each university.
Your alma mater is your old school, college or university. It's generally used as a positive term, implying reverence and loyalty for the nurturing qualities of the institution. Alma mater comes from two Latin words meaning "nourishing or bountiful mother."
