When we launched Alma in 2005, we were asked, "Why Alma? What does it mean?" The easy answer was "Alma means 'soul' in Spanish. Alma is a 'publisher with a soul', as opposed to the anonymous, soulless world of conglomerate publishing. The real answer was much more complex. I first thought of Alma during a trip abroad, and I thought of Alma as in "Alma Venus", "life-giving, nourishing Venus" – the only moment in my adult life when my knowledge of Lucretius came in handy.
But the Latin word "alma" had a much bigger impact on me through the language of Petrarch, Tasso and Leopardi, who calls Italy "alma terra natia" – "alma mater". "Almus" in poetical Italian also means "noble", "high-spirited" ("l'alme leggi de l'umano consorzio"), and this perhaps is the main inspiration for my choice. Then of course it also means, the same way it does in Spanish, "soul" – Dante says: "ch'alma beata non poria mentire." But that was at the back of my mind.
Certainly it was a surprise to discover that "alma" in Turkish means "don't buy". Our rep for that region complained, and said we should change our name – or at least localize it. Well, I am open to suggestions, and if you know of any Turkish words that fit the bill, please let me know.
AG
This reminds me of the problems Chevrolet had with their model "the Nova" in Spanish speaking countries. "Nova" sounds like "no va," which means in Spanish "it doesn't go."
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