Question: I would like to know if "alma mater" means "fostering mother." It sounds so awkward. Could you tell me the origins of the termAnswer: Yes, the Latin phrase "alma mater" is usually rendered in English as "fostering mother," at least in its archaic use as a religious title. In ancient Rome, the phrase served as a title for goddesses like Ceres, the goddess of grain, and Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods. The phrase survived into Christian Rome and saw some limited use as a title for the Virgin Mary. Toward the end of the 17th century, however, "alma mater" came to be increasingly used as a term of respect and affection for a school, and that remains its principal sense today. Merriam-Webster's Tenth Collegiate Dictionary defines "alma mater" as a "school, college, or university which one has attended or from which one has graduated."
Since "fostering mother" sounds awkward to you, it may please you to know that there are other possible translations of the phrase. "Alma" in Latin is the feminine form of the adjective "almus," which, in addition to "fostering" or "nurturing," can also mean "kind."
Question: Could you please tell me the meaning of the word "misere" as it appears in the line " 'I guess I'll make it a spread misere,' said Dangerous Dan McGrew" by Robert Service? How is the word pronounced
Answer: Robert Service was a British-born Canadian writer who lived from 1874 to 1958. The line you're referring to comes from one of his most famous poems, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew." Set during the time of the gold rush at the turn of the century, the poem narrates a murder that takes place in a saloon full of gold prospectors in the Yukon.
Amid the reveling prospectors that night in the Malamute Saloon is one Dangerous Dan McGrew, who is playing cards while being watched by "his light-o'-love, the lady that's known as Lou."
A drunken miner, seeking to avenge a past wrong, enters the saloon and, after buying everyone a drink, sits down at the piano to play a heart-rending melody about how the woman he loved -- who is, of course, the lady known as Lou -- was stolen away. The poem's narrator describes the music as "the crowning cry of a heart's despair." It's at that point, when the music has died down, that Dangerous Dan is heard to say, "I guess I'll make it a spread misere." The music rises again, the drunken stranger announces that Dan McGrew is a "hound of hell," the lights go out, two shots are heard, and both men fall dead.
On one level, Dangerous Dan's use of "spread misere" relates to nothing more than the fact that he's playing cards. There are actually two terms in question here: "misere" and "spread misere." The word "misere" (pronounced roughly "miz-AIR") is French for "misery, poverty" and is defined in Webster's Third New International Dictionary as "a declaration (as in the game of Boston) by which a card player engages to lose every trick." A "spread misere" is a type of misere that is played with all of one's cards exposed.
Dan is apparently making a declaration to his fellow card players, but his words, which drive the piano-player over the edge, seem also to be addressed to his adversary, and they foretell the tragic end that the two of them are about to share.
This column was prepared by the editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition. Send questions to: Merriam-Webster's Wordwatch, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, MA 01102. (C) Merriam-Webster Inc. Dist. by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.