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alma mater [alma mater 词源字典]: alma mater: [17] Alma mater literally means ‘mother who fosters or nourishes’. The Latin adjective almus ‘giving nourishment’, derives from the verb alere ‘nourish’ (source of English alimony and alimentary). The epithet alma mater was originally applied by the Romans to a number of goddesses whose particular province was abundance, notably Ceres and Cybele.

In the 17th century it began to be used in English with reference to a person’s former school or college, thought of as a place of intellectual and spiritual nourishment (Alexander Pope was amongst its earliest users, although the reference is far from kind: ‘Proceed, great days! ’till Learning fly the shore … ’Till Isis’ Elders reel, their pupils’ sport, And Alma mater lie dissolv’d in Port!’ Dunciad 1718).

If that which nourishes is almus, those who are nourished are alumni (similarly derived from the verb alere). Alumnus was first applied in English to a pupil – and more specifically a former pupil or graduate – in the 17th century; an early reference combines the notions of alumnus and alma mater: ‘Lieutenant Governor … promised his Interposition for them, as become such an Alumnus to such an Alma Mater’, William Sewall’s Diary 12 October 1696.

The first example of the feminine form, alumna, comes in the 1880s.
=> alimentary, alimony, alumnus[alma mater etymology, alma mater origin, 英语词源]
class: class: [16] Latin classis originally denoted ‘the people of Rome under arms, the ancient Roman army’; it appears to come from an earlier unrecorded *qladtis, a derivative of the base *qel- ‘call’, which points to an underlying sense ‘call to arms’. Under the terms of the constitution attributed to Servius Tullius, a 6thcentury BC king of Rome, the army, and hence the people, was divided into six such classes, membership of each based originally on the amount of land held, and latterly on wealth in money terms.

English first adopted the word in this antiquarian sense (which provided the basis for the modern application to social class), but its widespread use in the language probably began in the sense ‘group of pupils’. The derivatives classic [17] and classical [16] come from Latin classicus, probably via French classique; in Latin, the adjective signified ‘of the highest class of Roman citizen’, whence the word’s presentday approbatory connotations.
peripatetic: peripatetic: [16] Peripatetic means literally ‘walking round’. It comes via Old French peripatetique and Latin peripatēticus from Greek peripatētikós. This was a derivative of peripatein, a compound verb formed from the prefix perí- ‘round’ and patein ‘walk’. But the Greeks used it not simply for ‘walk around’, but specifically for ‘teach while walking around’ – an allusion to the teaching methods of Aristotle, who discussed and argued with his pupils and followers while walking about in the Lyceum, a garden near the temple of Apollo in Athens.

Hence adherents of Aristotle’s school of philosophy are known as Peripatetics. The more general use of the adjective for ‘itinerant’ represents a relatively modern (17th-century) return to its etymological meaning.
pupil: pupil: [14] Latin pūpus and pūpa meant respectively ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ (pūpa was applied by the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus to ‘chrysalises’, the underlying link being ‘undeveloped creature’, and English adopted it as pupa [19]). The diminutive derivatives pūpillus and pūpilla denoted ‘orphan’, a sense which remained with pūpill- as it passed via Old French pupille into English as pupil. ‘Person being taught’ did not emerge until the 16th century.

The application of the word to the ‘black aperture in the eye’, which reached English in the mid-16th century, goes back to Latin pūpilla, which was also used for ‘doll’ – the notion being that if you stand close to someone and look into their eyes, you can see yourself reflected in the pupils like a little ‘doll’.
=> pupa, puppet, puppy
absenteeism (n.): 1829, from absentee + -ism; originally in reference to landlords, especially in Ireland (absentee in this sense is in Johnson's dictionary); reference to pupils or workers is from 1922.
belladonna (n.): 1590s, "deadly nightshade" (Atropa belladonna), from Italian, literally "fair lady;" the plant so called supposedly because women made cosmetic eye-drops from its juice (an 18c. explanation; atropic acid, found in the plant, has a well-known property of dilating the pupils) or because it was used to poison beautiful women. Perhaps a folk etymology alteration; Gamillscheg suggests ultimately of Gaulish origin.
junior (adj.): late 13c., from Latin iunior, comparative of iuvenis "young, young man" (see young). Used after a person's name to mean "the younger of two" from late 13c. Abbreviation Jr. is attested from 1620s. Meaning "of lesser standing, more recent" is from 1766. That of "meant for younger people, of smaller size" is from 1860. Junior college first attested 1896; junior high school is from 1909. Junior miss "young teenage girl" is from 1907.
The junior high school is rapidly becoming the people's high school. The percentage of pupils completing the ninth year is constantly rising where junior high schools have been established. [Anne Laura McGregor, "Supervised Study in English for Junior High School Grades," New York, 1921]
preparatory (adj.): early 15c., from Late Latin praeparatorius, from Latin praeparatus (see preparation). Earlier in same sense was preparative (late 14c.). Applied from 1822 to junior schools in which pupils are "prepared" for a higher school.
socialist (n.): "one who advocates socialism," 1827, from French socialiste, or else a native formation based on it, in reference to the teachings of Comte de Saint-Simon, founder of French socialism. The word begins to be used in French in the modern sense c. 1835. Socialista, with a different sense, was applied 18c. to followers and pupils of Dutch jurist Grotius (1583-1645), from his use of socialistus. Socialist realism attested from 1934.
I find that socialism is often misunderstood by its least intelligent supporters and opponents to mean simply unrestrained indulgence of our natural propensity to heave bricks at respectable persons. [George Bernard Shaw, "An Unsocial Socialist," 1900]

Prison is a Socialist's Paradise, where equality prevails, everything is supplied and competition is eliminated. [Elbert Hubbard, "The Note Book," 1927]
Stradivarius (n.): valued type of violin, 1818, from Latinized form of name of Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), violin-maker of Cremona, or his sons or pupils. Short form Strad is attested from 1884.
tuition (n.): early 15c., "protection, care, custody," from Anglo-French tuycioun (13c.), Old French tuicion "guardianship," from Latin tuitionem (nominative tuitio) "a looking after, a caring for, watching over, protection, guardianship," from tuitus, past participle of tueri "to look after" (see tutor (n.)). Meaning "action or business of teaching pupils" is recorded from 1580s. The meaning "money paid for instruction" (1828) probably is short for tuition fees, in which tuition refers to the act of teaching and instruction (a sense attested from 1580s).
ability grouping: "The organization of pupils into groups according to their perceived ability (either in different schools, or within the same school or class), so that learners of a similar proficiency may be taught together at the same level", Early 20th cent..