In mathematic it is normally used as a synonym for a morphism in a given category and in the category of sets this would be a function. So in our context a mapping is a function.
Falser words were never spoken.
I gave the example not to teach you, but so that we could get away from terminology and get to meaning. Look at the question I posed: "how many arrows would it take pointing from the student to the teacher to illustrate every possible assignment?" So, if you have two students Alice and Eve, and two teachers Bob and Carl, there are four arrows: Alice->Bob, Alice->Carl, Eve->Bob, and Eve->Carl. How many arrows are there if there are no teachers and no students?