Etymologically
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mamma

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Pronunciation

Forms

mamma f (plural mamme)[1] Old forms include mama and manma; the forms màmmata and mammata mean “your mother”.[2] Southern Italian has mammà, used mostly without the article.[3][4] Lombard has mama and muma.[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mamma (“mother; breast”), a word of children's speech that meant both “breast” and “mother”.[6][7][8][1] DELI points to the universal equation of the two meanings that Roman Jakobson described.[6] The word is panromance: French maman, Occitan mamo, Catalan mamà, Spanish mama, Portuguese mamã, Sardinian mama and Romanian mamă.[7][5]

De Vaan derives the Latin word from Proto-Italic *mamma and Proto-Indo-European *mama, a nursery word made by repeating a nasal consonant with the vowel /a/; it has cognates such as Ancient Greek μάμμη (mámmē, “mother”), Lithuanian mama and Russian мама (mama).[9][10] Nocentini adds that the comparison reaches far beyond the Indo-European languages, since “ma-ma” imitates a baby's first sounds.[7] Wiktionary leaves open whether the Latin word is native or taken from the Greek one.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Ritmo di Sant'Alessio, a poem from the Marche of the 12th century, in the sense “mother”.[6][2] Dante, in De vulgari eloquentia, counts mamma and babbo among the words of children's speech.[6]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also used the word for a wet nurse, for a rootstock on which a plant is grafted, for the dregs of wine and, figuratively, for what gives origin and nourishment.[2] Dante calls the Aeneid la qual mamma / fummi, e fummi nutrice, poetando (which was mother and nurse to me in poetry).[11][8] The Latin sense “breast” lived on in poetry: Petrarch uses it in 1374, and Foscolo and Tasso later.[6][12] The sense “a kind woman who looks after someone like a mother” is dated before 1424.[6]

Mammismo, an excessive attachment of grown men to their mothers, is recorded in 1952 in Corrado Alvaro;[6] DELI suggests it may have been prompted by American English momism (1942).[6] Mammone “mummy's boy” followed in 1967, and mammasantissima, a top boss of the mafia, camorra or 'ndrangheta, in 1951.[7] The form mammà is recorded in 1877;[13] Prati derives it from French maman, noting Sicilian mamà in 1789.[13]

Timeline

  • 12th century – The Ritmo di Sant'Alessio uses mamma for “mother”.[6][2]
  • 1374 – Petrarch uses it for “breast”.[6]
  • Before 1424 – It is used for a woman who cares for others like a mother.[6]
  • 16th century – Mammana “midwife” is recorded.[7]
  • 1877 – Mammà is recorded.[13]
  • 1951 – Mammasantissima is recorded.[7]
  • 1952 – Corrado Alvaro writes of mammismo.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (familiar) mum, mom: mother: la mamma è in cucina.[8][11][3]
  2. The mother of an animal's young: mamma gatta.[8][14]
  3. (figurative) A woman who cares for others like a mother: la mamma dei senzatetto.[8][3][11]
  4. (literary) breast; also a taste papilla.[8][3][14]
  5. (winemaking) mamma del vino, the dregs of wine.[8][15][4]

Interjection

  1. Expressing fear, surprise, impatience or joy: mamma, che spavento!; also mamma mia![14][4][3]

Word family

  • mammina
  • mammismo
  • mammone
  • mammana
  • mammasantissima
  • mammola

Usage notes

Unlike madre, mamma takes the article after a possessive (la mia mamma); after a preposition the article is usually left out in the north and centre and used in the south (vado da mamma, dalla mamma).[11][16] Set phrases include come mamma l'ha fatto (stark naked) and essere attaccato alle gonnelle della mamma (to be tied to one's mother's apron strings).[3][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  3. ^ a b c d e f Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  13. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 623
  14. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  15. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2338
  16. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana