ALUMNUS

[Dr. Goodword]

• alumnus •

Pronunciation: ê-lêm-nês • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: A male who has graduated from an educational institution.

Notes: Today's Good Word is one that has held on tenuously to its Latinate plural: alumni [ê-lêm-nai]. This plural is also used to refer to mixed male and female alumni. If you are a female grad from an educational institution you are, of course, an alumna (plural alumnae).

In Play: We are alumni or alumnae of the schools, colleges, and universities we graduate from: "When someone offered to endow the Saddam Hussein Chair in Political Justice at Mustapha Gahten's alma mater, several alumni wrote letters of protest." The implication is that you have learned the lessons, passed the tests, and have been certified knowledgeable in some area of knowledge: "Izzie Badenov is an alumnus (with honors) of the state penal system."

Word History: In Latin, alumnus means simply "foster son, disciple". It comes from the verb alere "to nourish, raise, bring up". This same verb underlies the adjectives almus "nurturing", seen in the name of the institution we graduate from, our Alma Mater "nourishing mother". The same root, al- is found in many other words having to do with growing up: altus "high" found in English altitude. The root of this word emerged in English as old, elder, and the ald in alderman. (Today we thank Ardis J. Pierce for nurturing our vocabularies with his suggestion of today's Good Word.)

[Perry]

Because of the nuturing, I though perhaps that alms might be a related word, but no.

alms
O.E. ælmesse, from P.Gmc. *alemosna, an early borrowing of V.L. *alemosyna, from Church L. eleemosyna (Tertullian, 3c.), from Gk. eleemosyne "pity, mercy," in Ecclesiastical Gk. "charity, alms," from eleemon "compassionate," from eleos "pity, mercy," of unknown origin, perhaps imitative of cries for alms.

[gailr]

I cannot resist the opportunity to razz you about this, Perry.

Because of the nuturing, I though perhaps that alms might be a related word, but no.

Is that a typo for nurturing or are you referencing a part of speech even more archaic than neuter?

-gailr

[Perry]

The former. Good eye old thing!

[skinem]

[quote="Perry"]Because of the nuturing, I though perhaps that alms might be a related word, but no.
quote]

Based on the phone calls and mailers I receive, I believe being an alumnus and alms ARE related...

[sluggo]

I cannot resist the opportunity to razz you about this, Perry.

Because of the nuturing, I though perhaps that alms might be a related word, but no.

Is that a typo for nurturing or are you referencing a part of speech even more archaic than neuter?

-gailr

I thought Perry had the ignoble nutria in mind, which many Louisianans would neuter... which brings up not alms but arms, as around NOLA one thinks of sheriff Harry Lee, who's noted for hunting them.

[gailr]

I thought Perry had the ignoble nutria in mind, which many Louisianans would neuter...

In the 1930s nutria were imported into Louisiana for the fur farming industry and were released, either intentionally or accidentally into the Louisiana coastal marshes.

The section I bolded caught my eye; there are "unnatural" varmints everywhere! An urban legend back in Wisconsin is that the plagues of lake flies (which hatch for summer holidays just as reliably as the swallows return to Capistrano) can be traced to a University of Wisconsin import experiment gone horribly wrong. They deny it, but...
gailr shudders at memory of windshield wipers clearing green rain of flies on a trip to Fond du Lac

Sadly, lakefly hides are not yet profitable for the fur & leather industry.

-gailr

Then again, there were the seagulls, which I found enchanting at first. After a few years of watching gangs of crazed seagulls (hopped-up on lake flies, no doubt ) attacking kids picnic-ing in the park, I understood why some natives referred to them as "rats with wings".