mother

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈmʌð.ə/, US /ˈmʌð.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English moder, inherited from Old English mōdor,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *mōdēr,^[2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *māter- (“mother”).^[2][5][6][7] Its Germanic cognates include Old Saxon mōdar, Dutch moeder, German Mutter and Old Norse móðir;^[3][2][4] Hoad notes that it is lacking in Gothic.^[6] Outside Germanic the root gave Latin māter, Ancient Greek μήτηρ (mḗtēr), Old Irish máthir, Lithuanian motė, Old Church Slavonic mati, Sanskrit mātár- and Tocharian A mācar.^[7][2][4] Watkins bases it on the baby-talk form *mā- with the kinship suffix *-ter-,^[2] and Klein and Word Origins likewise trace it to a child's “ma”.^[7][8] The spelling with -th- dates from the early 16th century, though the pronunciation is probably older, as in father.^[2] It is related to maternal, matrimony, matrix and matter.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A female parent: Old English mōdor, before 725;^[3] of animals before 900,^[9] and of a woman who has given birth to a child about 1050.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Mother of God as a title of the Virgin Mary is from about 1122.^[9] In Middle English mother also meant the womb, and in the 15th century hysteria, both senses now obsolete.^[6] A term of address to an elderly woman and the head of a community of nuns are later uses.^[6] A quality or condition that gives rise to something is its mother from 1560.^[10] Mother tongue is from the 14th century,^[6] and mother country and Mother Earth from the 16th.^[6] The verb meant “to be a mother” in the early 15th century,^[2] “to give birth to” from 1548,^[9][11] and “to take care of as a mother” from 1863.^[9][2] Mothering Sunday is the old name of the fourth Sunday in Lent.^[6]

Timeline

• before 725 – Old English mōdor.^[3]
• c. 1122 – Mother of God.^[9]
• c. 1125 – Middle English moder.^[3]
• 14th century – mother tongue.^[6]
• early 16th century – the spelling with -th-.^[2]
• 1548 – verb, to give birth to.^[9][11]
• 1560 – a source or origin.^[10]
• 1863 – verb, to care for as a mother.^[9][2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A woman who conceives, gives birth to or raises a child; a female parent, also of an animal.
2. A female ancestor.
3. A woman in authority, such as the head of a convent.
4. A source or origin: necessity is the mother of invention.

Adjective

1. Being a mother; maternal.
2. Being the source or origin: the mother church.
3. Native: mother tongue.

Verb

1. To give birth to; to produce.
2. To care for or protect as a mother does.

Word family

• motherhood
• motherless
• motherlessness

Related words

• matter
• material
• maternal
• maternity
• matriculate
• matrimony
• matrix
• father
• matron
• madrigal

Usage notes

A separate word mother, the dregs of oil or wine and later the slimy film that turns wine or cider into vinegar (mother of vinegar), is recorded from 1538.^[3][9] Barnhart and the SOED take it as a special use of mother, comparing French mère de vinaigre and German Essigmutter,^[3][4] while Etymonline and Merriam-Webster connect it with Middle Dutch modder, “mud, dregs”.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster