amma

Forms

amma f (genitive ammae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *ammā-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂em(m)-h₂ (“mother”), a nursery word.^[2][3][4] De Vaan notes that the length of the nasal or stop in such words for “father” and “mother” varies between the Indo-European languages.^[2] Wiktionary also allows that it may be a child's alteration of mamma.^[1]

Cognate with Oscan ammaí (“to the mother”), Ancient Greek ἀμμά (ammá, “mama, mother, nurse”), Albanian amë (“mother”), Old Norse amma (“grandmother”) and Old High German amma (“mother, nurse”).^[2] De Vaan takes amita “paternal aunt” as probably a diminutive of it.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it only in one gloss of Isidore of Seville,^[2] who says that the screech owl is commonly called amma “from loving the little ones”, and that it is therefore said to give milk to the newborn.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word lived on as a name: Amma, Ammius, Ammia and Ammianus are built on it,^[2] and women named Amma or Ame appear in inscriptions from Spain and Lusitania.^[6] It also survives in Romance.^[2] Wiktionary gives it the senses “wet nurse” and “a night bird, perhaps the screech owl”.^[1]

A medieval gloss explains amma as a witch who loves sucklings, which the MLW suspects is a confusion with lamia, and Albertus Magnus repeats Isidore's account of the owl.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville records amma as the common name of the screech owl.^[5][3]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus repeats Isidore's explanation of the owl's name.^[7][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Mother; a wet nurse.^[2][1]
2. (Late Latin) A night bird, perhaps the screech owl.^[5][1][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A witch.^[7]

Related words

• amita
• mamma

Usage notes

Wiktionary records a second amma, a spiritual mother or abbess in early monasticism, from Classical Syriac ܐܸܡܵܐ (ʾemmā, “mother, abbess”) through Koine Greek, perhaps reinforced by this word.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften