Mutter German · revision 35105

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=3rd quarter of the 8th century, Old High German glosses|origins=ine-pro *méh₂tēr}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈmʊtər/, [ˈmʊtɐ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''Mutter''' ''f'' (genitive Mutter, plural Mütter, diminutive Mütterchen n or Mütterlein n or Mütterken n)^(Wiktionary)

+ In Old and Middle High German the plural had no ending, ''muoter''; the umlauted plural ''müeter'' appears in Middle High German, and Luther still wrote ''müttere'' beside ''mütter''.^(DWB|12, 2804)

+ The short vowel comes from Central German ''mûter''; it is recorded from the 15th century and prevailed in the 16th.^(EWA|6, 655)^(DWB|12, 2804)

+ In the sense “nut for a bolt” the plural is ''Muttern''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|gmh|muoter]], [[inh|goh|muoter]], [[inh|gmw-pro|*mōder]], [[inh|gem-pro|*mōdēr|t=mother]].^(Kluge 2011|643)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Wiktionary) The same word is [[osx|mōdar]], [[ofs|mōder]], [[ang|mōdor]] (now [[en|mother]]) and [[non|móðir]], with [[nl|moeder]] and [[sv|moder]];^(Kluge 2011|643)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Kroonen 2013) it is found in every Germanic language except Gothic, where the pet word [[got|𐌰𐌹𐌸𐌴𐌹|tr=aiþei]] is used instead, as [[m|got|𐌰𐍄𐍄𐌰|tr=atta]] is for the father.^(Kluge 2011|643)^(DWB|12, 2804)

+

+ It continues [[ine-pro|*méh₂tēr|t=mother]], one of the oldest kinship terms, seen also in [[sa|मातृ|tr=mātṛ́]], [[grc|μήτηρ|tr=mḗtēr]], [[la|māter]], [[sga|máthair]], [[cu|мати|tr=mati]] and [[lv|māte]], and [[lt|motė|alt=mótė|t=wife]].^(Kluge 2011|643)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|573) It is formed with the suffix of kinship terms seen in [[Vater]], [[Bruder]] and [[Tochter]], from the nursery word [[m|ine-pro|*mā]] that also underlies [[Mama]];^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|573)^(Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch) the Grimms had instead thought of a root meaning “to measure out”, the mother as the one who apportions food in the house.^(DWB|12, 2804)

+

+ The Germanic /d/ instead of the expected /þ/ shows that the stress had moved to the suffix already in Proto-Germanic, as in Sanskrit;^(Kroonen 2013) Kroonen takes this to be analogical to the word for “father”.^(Kroonen 2013)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Old High German ''muoter'' is recorded from the third quarter of the 8th century, in glosses and then in Isidor, the Monsee fragments, Tatian, Otfrid, Notker and other texts, meaning a person's own mother, an ancestress, an origin, and the womb.^(EWA|6, 655)^(Schützeichel 2012|230)^(Köbler AHD) Middle High German used it of people, animals and plants, and for a woman who instigated something.^(EWA|6, 655)^(Lexer 1872|1, 2244)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the sense “womb”, rare in the modern language, comes ''Mutterkorn'' “ergot” (1721), a fungus named for its use against pains of the womb;^(Paul 2002)^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|573) Pfeifer dates it to the 18th century.^(Pfeifer 1993) Things that take in or enclose something were also called ''Mutter'': in mining the rock casing, and in engineering the [[Schraubenmutter|alt=nut]] that takes the bolt, recorded by Frisch in 1741.^(Duden 7 2020|573)^(Paul 2002) The Duden explains the nut by the image of the womb, Kluge by a sexual metaphor, as in the male and female parts of a plug.^(Duden 7 2020|573)^(Kluge 2011|643)

+

+ ''Muttersprache'' (1522) was taken from Middle Low German ''mōdersprāke'' (1424), probably after Medieval Latin ''lingua materna'';^(Pfeifer 1993)^(Duden 7 2020|573) Paul dates ''Mutterkirche'' to 1378, ''Muttermal'' to 1557 and ''Mutterwitz'' to 1679.^(Paul 2002) ''Mutterseelenallein'', in Adelung in 1777, rests on an older ''Mutterseele'' “human being”.^(Paul 2002)^(Duden 7 2020|573) Proverbs include ''Vorsicht ist die Mutter der Weisheit'', jokingly ''… der Porzellankiste'' (19th century).^(Paul 2002) Polish borrowed the word as ''mutra'' and ''muterka'' “nut” (1782), and Hungarian as ''muter'' “grandmother, old woman” (1840).^(LWP)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Old High German ''muoter'' appears in glosses.^(EWA|6, 655)

+ * 1378 – ''Mutterkirche'' “mother church”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1424 – Middle Low German ''mōdersprāke''.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 15th century – The short vowel of ''Mutter'' is first written.^(EWA|6, 655)^(DWB|12, 2804)

+ * 1522 – ''Muttersprache'' appears in High German.^(Pfeifer 1993)

+ * 1557 – ''Muttermal'' “birthmark”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1721 – ''Mutterkorn'' “ergot”.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1741 – Frisch records ''Mutter'' for the thread that takes a screw.^(Paul 2002)

+ * 1777 – ''mutterseelenallein'' in Adelung.^(Paul 2002)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|mother]], a woman who has given birth to one or more children: ''Ihre Mutter wohnt in Leipzig.''^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A woman who brings up children in the role of a mother.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # ''(in some religious orders)'' The [[m|en|superior]] of a convent, also as a title: ''Mutter Oberin''.^(Duden GWDS 1999)

+ # A female animal that has just had young.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(technology)'' A [[m|en|matrix]], a mould for pressing records.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # ''(jargon)'' Short for [[Muttergesellschaft]]: a parent company.^(Duden GWDS 1999)^(Wiktionary DE)

+ # A [[m|en|nut]] that screws onto a bolt (plural ''Muttern'').^(Wiktionary)^(Wiktionary DE)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mütterlich]]

+ * [[bemuttern]]

+ * [[Muttersprache]]

+ * [[Mutterkorn]]

+ * [[Muttermal]]

+ * [[Mutterwitz]]

+ * [[mutterseelenallein]]

+ * [[Muttersöhnchen]]

+ * [[Muttergesellschaft]]

+ * [[Schraubenmutter]]

+ * [[Gebärmutter]]

+ * [[Stiefmutter]]

+ * [[Schwiegermutter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Mieder]]

+ * [[Mama]]

+ * [[Matrize]]

+ * [[Metropole]]

+ * [[en|mother]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Mutter Natur'' is nature personified, and ''bei Mutter Grün schlafen'' (colloquial) is to sleep in the open air.^(Duden GWDS 1999) In regional colloquial speech ''bei Muttern'' means “at home, at mother's”.^(Duden GWDS 1999) Kluge leaves open whether the ''Mutter'' of ''Essigmutter'' (mother of vinegar) is this word or rather [[Moder]], and the Duden takes [[Mieder]] “bodice” as probably derived from it.^(Kluge 2011|643)^(Duden 7 2020|573)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}