Today is Mother’s Day, the day we thank our female parents for their love and patience. But what do you call your mother? Is she a ‘mum’ or a ‘mam’? Or maybe even a ‘mom’? We have many words for mothers in English, but why is this? And are they all correct? Let’s take a (motherly) look.
The modern English ‘mother’ comes from the Old English term modor. As such, it is also where many of our informal terms for mothers come from, from ‘mommy’ and ‘mumsy’ to ‘ma’ and ‘maw’.
Interestingly, though, these words may have even older origins. The word ‘mama’ appears in some form in dozens of languages, including Mandarin, Hindi and Arabic. This is because simple noises like ‘mama’ and ‘papa’ are among most babies’ first vocalisations.
The theory, then, is that ‘mother’ and its modern variations are all rooted in the baby talk of ‘mama’. So one thing we have in common with our earliest ancestors may be our words for ‘mum’.
But the question still remains: why do we have so many words for ‘mother’? The simple answer is that mothers are a big part of human life all over the world. And as such, it is natural that different groups of English speakers would develop their own words for motherhood.
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The three terms we’ve picked out here, for instance, are all associated with different places:
These are all accepted terms for ‘mother’, so your preference will usually depend on where you grew up. And the ‘correct’ spelling will depend on the dialect in question.
In case you were wondering, though, ‘mam’ is probably the oldest of the three spellings above, since the earliest recorded use of ‘mama’ in English dates back to 1707. By comparison, the earliest appearances of ‘mum’ and ‘mom’ are from 1823 and 1867, respectively, so they are a bit newer.
Whatever your chosen term, though, we hope all the mothers out there are having a great day. And, mother or not, we hope you have enjoyed our etymological look at motherhood!
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