mamma Latin · revision 5727

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *mama}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈmam.ma]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmam.ma]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mamma''' ''f'' (genitive mammae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a nursery word, a reduplicated labial nasal with /a/, [[inh|ine-pro|*mama]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Similar words are found everywhere: [[grc|μάμμη|tr=mámmē|t=mother]], [[cy|mam|t=mother]], [[lt|mama|t=mother]], [[ru|мама|tr=mama|t=mother]] and [[sa|माम|tr=māma-|t=uncle]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Wiktionary allows a borrowing from Greek.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus, who has a mother who gave the breast.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the breast, the female breast and the udder of animals, and ''mammam dare'' was to suckle a child, as in Plautus and Terence.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It was also a breast-shaped swelling on a plant, a bud.^(OLD 2012) As a nursery word it meant “mummy”, as Varro says children call their mother ''mamma'' and their father ''tata'', and also a grandmother.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''mamma'', the visible breast, from ''ūber'', the nourishing udder.^(Döderlein 1874) The word survives in [[it|mamma]] and Romanian ''mamă'', and [[en|mamma]] is recorded from the 1570s.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Late Latin ''mammālis'' “of the breast” gave Linnaeus' ''Mammalia'' in 1758 and [[en|mammal]] in 1826.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of a mother giving the breast.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro says children call their mother ''mamma''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1758 – Linnaeus coins ''Mammalia''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|breast]], (of animals) an [[m|en|udder]], teat.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A breast-shaped bud on a plant.^(OLD 2012)

+ # (nursery word) [[m|en|Mother]], mummy; grandmother.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|nurse]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bimammius]]

+ * [[mamilla]]

+ * [[mammālis]]

+ * [[mammātus]]

+ * [[mammeātus]]

+ * [[mammicula]]

+ * [[mammō]]

+ * [[mammōsus]]

+ * [[mammula]]

+ * [[būmammus]]

+ * [[unimammae]]

+ * [[ūnomammius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mammothreptus]]

+ * [[anus]]

+ * [[māter]]

+ * [[nonnus]]

+ * [[ūber]]

+ * [[tata]]

+ * [[en|mamma]]

+ * [[en|mammal]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''mamma'' (the breast as a visible part of the body) from ''ūber'' (the breast as nourishing, an udder).^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}