By Joana Atanasova
How “mama” was the first word in recorded history
8th of march – the international women’s day. Bulgaria celebrates it as well, acknowledging all the wonderful women that contribute to our lives, as well as society, however we have put a little twist on it – we mainly celebrate is as mother’s day, how and why that originated is a little misty, but it’s widely accepted that since there’s no other official mother’s day in the calendars, we’ll just hop on the trail and might as well celebrate it today. Generally the celebrations consist mainly of gifting a flower or a whole bouquet to one’s mother or mother figure, and by choice – the women you appreciate in your life.
Celebrations are a little bit fuzzy as there’s no tradition or anything solid left from generation to generation to follow, which is honestly surprising for Bulgaria, rather it’s a free range to do whatever you see the fittest. Most ladies have a girls’ night out, some are treated to dinners from their significant others, basically a small holiday without traditions. But for us linguists, what better way to celebrate mother’s day than digging into the history of the word for “mother”.
The word for “mother”, mama, ma, etc. and its derivatives, is one of the oldest words in existence. Not only is it one of the oldest, but to this day “mama” is the same in pretty much all known languages with some exceptions of course. Anywhere you go in the world, everybody will understand the word in one way or another. What a fascinating thing!
In a previous article I’ve gone over the oldest known words, listing the findings of linguists in a nifty table and explaining how and why, but this time I want to focus just on the word for “mother” as it’s thematic and a particularly interesting one, because of its universality.
The universal thing of all living creatures is that everyone has a mother. Everybody and everything existing today is here because someone gave birth to them. And it’s been like that since the dawn of time, since before villages, tribes, shelters, fire, there were mothers. It’s only natural for one of the first words that was derived from human speech would indeed be “mother”, I’m sure that’s no surprise for anybody. The word was alongside other valuable words like “fire”, “man”, “to flow”, and other odd ones like “worm” and “bark”. This is based on research going back to the ice age, with evidence as old as 15,000 years old. The interesting thing here is that while the rest of the words have gone upon ages and ages of transformations, varying from language to language, the word for “mother” has pretty much remained the same.
Here’s where the universality comes along – in almost every known language “mama” is known in this exact form. Whether it’s “ma”, “mama”, “imma”, “ema”, “mata” – the meaning is the same. It’s one of the most universal words in every known language, and one that would be understood pretty much everywhere. In the table below that’s been graciously provided by mothersdaycelebration.com (thematic, I know), you can see on hand the resemblance of the word in the languages below.
Afrikaans
Moeder, Ma
Albanian
Nënë, Mëmë
Arabic
Ahm
Aragones
Mai
Asturian
Ma
Aymara
Taica
Azeri (Latin Script)
Ana
Basque
Ama
Belarusan
Matka
Bergamasco
MÃ der
Bolognese
Mèder
Bosnian
Majka
Brazilian Portuguese
Mäe
Bresciano
Madér
Breton
Mamm
Bulgarian
Majka
Byelorussian
Macii
Calabrese
Matre, Mamma
Hindi
माँ के दिन
Caló
Bata, Dai
Cambodian (Khmer)
Mæ, Madai, Mák
Catalan
Mare
Cebuano
Inahan, Nanay
Chechen
Nana
Croatian
Mati, Majka
Czech
Matka, Mama, Maminka
Danish
Mor
Dutch
Moeder, Moer
Dzoratâi
Mére
English
Mother, Mama, Mom
Esperanto
Patrino, Panjo
Estonian
Ema
Faeroese
Móðir
Finnish
Äiti
Flemish
Moeder
French
Mère, Maman
Frisian
Emo, Emä, Kantaäiti, Äiti
Furlan
Mari
Galician
Nai
German
Mutter
Greek
MÃ na
Griko
Salentino, Mána
Hawaiian
Makuahine
Hindi -
Ma, Maji
Hungarian
Anya, Fu
Hebrew
יום האם
Icelandic
Móðir
Ilongo
Iloy, Nanay, Nay
Indonesian
Induk, Ibu, Biang, Nyokap
Irish
Máthair
Italian
Madre, Mamma
Japanese
Okaasan, Haha
Judeo Spanish
Madre
Kannada
Amma
Kurdish Kurmanji
Daya
Ladino
Uma
Latin
Mater
Leonese
Mai
Ligurian
Maire
Limburgian
Moder, Mojer, Mam
Lingala
Mama
Lithuanian
Motina
Lombardo Occidentale
Madar
Lunfardo
Vieja
Macedonian
Majka
Malagasy
Reny
Malay
Emak
Maltese
Omm
Mantuan
Madar
Maori
Ewe, Haakui
Mapunzugun
Ñuke, Ñuque
Marathi
Aayi
Mongolian
`eh
Mudnés
Medra, mama
Neapolitan
Mamma
Norwegian
Madre
Occitan
Maire
Old Greek
Mytyr
Parmigiano
Mädra
Persian
Madr, Maman
Piemontese
Mare
Polish
Matka, Mama
Portuguese
Mãe
Punjabi
Mai, Mataji, Pabo
Quechua
Mama
Rapanui
Matu'a Vahine
Reggiano
Mèdra
Romagnolo
Mèder
Romanian
Mama, Maica
Romansh
Mamma
Russian
Mat'
Saami
Eadni
Samoan
Tina
Sardinian (Limba Sarda Unificada)
Mama
Sardinian Campidanesu
mamai
Sardinian Logudoresu
Madre, Mamma
Serbian
Majka
Shona
Amai
Sicilian
Matri
Slovak
Mama, Matka
Slovenian
Máti
Spanish
Madre, Mamá, Mami
Swahili
Mama, Mzazi, Mzaa
Swedish
Mamma, Mor, Morsa
Swiss German
Mueter
Telegu
Amma
Triestino
Mare
Turkish
Anne, Ana, Valide
Turkmen
Eje
Ukrainian
Mati
Urdu
Ammee
Valencian
Mare
Venetian
Mare
Viestano
Mamm'
Vietnamese
me
Wallon
Mére
Welsh
Mam
Yiddish
Muter
Zeneize
Moæ
See what I mean? You can find the resemblance in the words even where the word varies like in Estonian or Maltese, you can still catch the subtle meaning of it even if you’re not familiar with the language. Language changes all the time, it’s fluid and it’s here to serve the user more than the other way around, so you can imagine that language goes over change in a matter of years, it doesn’t take millennia to see actual changes and new adopted words. Knowing all that, you can imagine how absolutely fascinating it is for a word to not only remain the same since its conception, but also remain similar or analogous in every single human language tens of thousands of years later.
How has “mama” remained the same through time? Simple, linguists believe that the origin of the word itself is the sound that babies first make when being breastfed. Of course babies have no idea what they are saying, it’s just a sound that they are making when being hungry and when the nipple or bottle is in their mouth, adults are the ones that interpret the sound that the baby makes, the mother thinks that the baby recognizes her since they make that sound when they see her, and responds to it. From there the baby knows to make it when the mother is present so that they can have their next meal, and from using it they know that with it that the mother will recognize it and would be able to call her over. All that results in the sound being used as a full blown word and here we are tens of thousands of years later using it still.
So why hasn’t it changed? Because it doesn’t need to. It’s perfect in its simplicity and usage, a baby can use it, an adult can use, it serves its purpose perfectly as it is, it doesn’t need changing. If it did, it would have fluctuated through thousands of years of linguistic evolution, like the word “fire”. Fire is also a proto word that’s been used since the dawn of time, or rather, the creation of fire, but it’s gone over so many changes that it’s different in every single language, even the root words in every ancient language, the base for our modern languages, vary – in Latin it’s “ignis”, in ancient Greek it’s “pur”, in Old English it's “fyr”, in Sanskrit it’s “agni” (hence the Latin), but you get the idea. In our modern languages the word has changed tremendously that it differs everywhere.
“Mama” has remained the same and survived the test of time, the same way as us humans have, thanks to said mothers. Which is why I want to take the time to thank all the mothers and mother figures in our lives that make sure we know many more words than just “mama”. Be it mothers, step-mothers, adoptive mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins, and all other women we see as mother, sister figures – all of the valuable ladies that grace our lives that deserve our love and gratitude, thank you for being you, for the help, for the love, for everything you stand and fight for, for your strength that reflects on us, and for being the stronghold of society! Happy international women’s day!
