Wikipedia

Alumni

For the film, seeAlumni(film).For the Argentine football team, seeAlumni Athletic Club.For the Argentine rugby union team, seeAsociación Alumni.

Alumni(sg.:alumnus(MASC) oralumna(FEM)) are former students orgraduatesof a school, college, or university. The feminine pluralalumnaeis sometimes used for groups of women, andalums(sg.:alum) oralumns(sg.:alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. The word comes fromLatin,meaning nurslings, pupils or foster children, derived fromalere"to nourish".[1]

TheLatinnounalumnusmeans "foster son" or "pupil" and is derived from theverbalere"to nourish". BPictured:Lorado Taft'sAlma Materin Urbana, Illinois.

The term is not synonymous with "graduates": people can be alumni without graduating (Burt Reynolds,alumnus but not graduate ofFlorida State University,is an example). The term is sometimes used to refer to former employees, former members of an organization, former contributors, or former inmates.[2][3][4]

Etymology

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TheLatinnounalumnusmeans "foster son" or "pupil". It is derived from the Latinverbalere"to nourish".[5]Separate, but from the same root, is theadjectivealmus"nourishing", found in the phrasealma mater,a title for a person's home university.[6]

Pronunciation[7][8]
alumnus alumna alumni alumnae
English /əˈlʌmnəs/
ə-LUM-nəs		 /əˈlʌmnə/
-⁠nə		 /əˈlʌmnaɪ/
-⁠nye		 /əˈlʌmniː/-⁠nee,
alsoUS:/-naɪ/-⁠nye
Latin(Classical) [aˈlʊmnʊs] [aˈlʊmna] [aˈlʊmniː] [aˈlʊmnae̯]
Latin(Ecclesiastical) [aˈlumnus] [aˈlumna] [aˈlumni] [aˈlumne]

Usage in Roman law

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In Latin,alumnusis a legal term (Roman law) to describe a child placed infosterage.[9]According toJohn Boswell,the word "is nowhere defined in relation to status, privilege, or obligation."[10]Citing the research ofHenri Leclercq,Teresa Nani,andBeryl Rawson,who studied the many inscriptions aboutalumni,Boswell concluded that it referred toexposed childrenwho were taken into a household where they were "regarded as somewhere between an heir and a slave, partaking in different ways of both categories." Despite the warmth of feelings between the parent and child, "analumnusmight be treated both as a beloved child and as a household servant. "[11]

Usage

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An alumnus or alumna is a former student or a graduate of an educational institution (school, college, university).[12]According to theUnited States Department of Education,the termalumnaeis used in conjunction with eitherwomen's colleges[13]or a female group of students. The termalumniis used in conjunction with eithermen's colleges,a male group of students, or a mixed group of students:

In accordance with the rules of grammar governing the inflexion of nouns in theRomance languages,the masculine plural alumni is correctly used for groups composed of both sexes:the alumni of Princeton University.[14]

The term is sometimes informally shortened to "alum" (optional plural "alums" ).[15]This is increasingly being used more formally as a gender-neutral alternative.[5]However, and for this latter purpose, the option "alumn" and "alumns" are also used in some institutions in Australia, Europe and the UK.[16]

The words "alum/alums" and "alumn/alumns" (pronounced with a silent "n" ) are both pronounced with the accent on the second syllable (al-UM), as opposed to the chemical compoundalumand its plural, "alums" (pron. AL-um).[17]

Many universities have alumni offices that coordinatefundraisingand offer benefits to registered alumni. Alumnireunionsare popular events at many institutions. These may be organized by alumni offices or byalumni associations,and are often social occasions forfundraising.Full membership of alumni associations is sometimes limited just to graduates rather than all alumni, e.g. atHarvard University.[18]Universities with validation agreements may limit some alumni benefits to graduates who studied at that university rather than at validated institutions.[19]

InBritish English,the terms "old boy"or" old girl "are often preferred for a former pupil of a primary or secondary school, while universities refer to their former students as alumni.[20][21]

Some universities, including theUniversity of Cambridge,theUniversity of California, San FranciscoandYale University,include formerpostdoctoral researchersas alumni, in recognition of the trainee status of such positions.[22][23][24]Others, such as theMassachusetts Institute of Technology,consider them 'associate alumni', without full access to alumni benefits.[25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Alumnus".Collins dictionary.Retrieved4 December2023.C17: from Latin: nursling, pupil, foster son, fromalereto nourish
  2. ^"The State Of Corporate Alumni: 2017 Survey Results".EnterpriseAlumni.2017-10-02.Retrieved2018-10-29.
  3. ^"Alumni – Definition from the Free Merriam Webster Dictionary".Merriam-webster.com. 2010-08-13.Retrieved2011-02-15.1: A person who has attended or has graduated from a particular school, college, or university. 2: a person who is a former member, employee, contributor, or inmate
  4. ^"Alumnus – definition of alumnus by Macmillan dictionary".Macmillandictionary.com.Retrieved2011-02-15.Someone who was a student at a particular school, college, or university
  5. ^ab"alumnus".Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.Retrieved5 December2023.
  6. ^John Ayto (1 January 2009).Word Origins.A&C Black.p. 41.ISBN9781408101605.
  7. ^Collins English Dictionary(13th ed.). HarperCollins. 2018.ISBN978-0-008-28437-4.
  8. ^"alumna".Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.Retrieved2022-05-15.
  9. ^For example,Digest40, 2, 14
  10. ^Boswell 1988,pp. 116.
  11. ^Boswell 1988,pp. 117–119.
  12. ^The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
  13. ^"Archived: Women's Colleges in the United States: History, Issues, and Challenges".Ed.gov. Archived fromthe originalon 2006-08-15.Retrieved2011-02-15.
  14. ^"alumni – Definitions from Dictionary.com".Dictionary.reference.com.Retrieved2011-02-15.
  15. ^"Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words".Dictionary.com.Retrieved2024-05-08.
  16. ^Accessed 22/03/2023: Australia: https://lincoln.edu.au/alumn_new/ https://robbcollege.com/robb-academics Europe & UK: https://www.ecchr.eu/en/case/alumn-network/ https://ju.se/en/alumni/winners-alumn-of-the-year-2023.html https://www.oulu.fi/en/cooperation/alumni-activities/alumn-year https://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/tags/alumn America: https://ischool.umd.edu/alumni/distinguished-alumni-awards/(Alumn of the Year)
  17. ^"alum". Cambridge dictionaryhttps://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/alum
  18. ^"About the Harvard Alumni Association".Harvard Alumni Association.Retrieved17 August2023.Members of the HAA include recipients of all degrees granted by the University and Radcliffe College, as well as the members of all University faculties. Others whose names appear on the alumni records of the University, but who have not received degrees, are associate members and program participants. They may attend meetings and take part in any activities of the HAA but may not vote for Overseers of the University or directors of the HAA.
  19. ^"Alumni Fee Scholarship 2024-25".Durham University.Eligibility.Retrieved5 December2023.
  20. ^"old boy -noun".www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com.Oxford University Press.Retrieved9 January2023.
  21. ^"old girl -noun".www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com.Oxford University Press.Retrieved16 August2023.
  22. ^"Alumni benefits extended to thousands of former researchers".University of Cambridge.10 June 2015.
  23. ^"Alumni".UCSF Office for Postdoctoral Scholars.Retrieved16 August2023.
  24. ^"Leaving Yale".Yale University Office for Postdoctoral Affairs.Retrieved16 August2023.
  25. ^Hazel Sive; Claude Canizares; Maria Zuber (November 2013)."The Status of MIT's Postdoctoral Researchers".MIT Faculty Newsletter.Vol. XXVI, no. 2.

Bibliography

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  • Boswell, John(1988).The Kindness of Strangers:The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance.New York: Pantheon.ISBN9780226067124.
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  • The dictionary definition ofalumniat Wiktionary
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