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mum

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Mum, silent, and mum, mother, are different words, each imitating a sound made with the lips.[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

mum1 silent

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mom, mum, probably imitating an inarticulate sound made with closed lips,[2][5][6] compare Middle Low German mummen and Dutch mommen.[6][3] It is related to mumble and mumps.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

An inarticulate sound made with closed lips, showing inability or unwillingness to speak: 1377 in the OED, before 1376 in Piers Plowman according to Barnhart.[7][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to make silent from about 1400 and to be silent from the mid-15th century.[2] The adjective, silent or secret, is from 1521.[7][5] The interjection “hush!” is from the 1560s.[2][5] Mum's the word is recorded by 1704 in Etymonline and Barnhart.[2][5] It and keep mum are associated with Second World War warnings about careless talk, but according to Word Origins both phrases go back to the early 16th century.[1]

Timeline

  • 1377 – a sound with closed lips.[7]
  • 1521 – adjective, silent.[7][5]
  • 1560s – interjection, hush.[2]
  • 1704 – mum's the word.[2][5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Silent, saying nothing: keep mum.

Interjection

  1. Be quiet! Mum's the word.

mum2 mother

Etymology

Mum, mother, is a pet word short for mummy,[2][3] partly a variant of mam.[3] Like ma and mama, it goes back to the first sounds made by babies.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mother: 1823 in Etymonline, the mid-17th century in SOED.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is chiefly British; the American form is mom.[8][1] In British sociology it was used from 1957 for the working-class mother as an influence on her children.[2] It was also sometimes a vulgar form of madam or ma'am.[2][3]

Timeline

  • 1823 – mother.[2]
  • 1957 – in sociology.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (chiefly British, informal) mother.

Usage notes

Mum is also short for chrysanthemum, in gardeners' jargon by 1915.[2][3] Mum, a kind of beer first brewed in Brunswick, from German Mumme, is a different word from the 17th century,[3][6] as is the verb mum, to act in a mummers' play.[9][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin