mamă

Forms

mamă f (plural mame)^[1] The variant mumă is the older form: the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki has „Tatăl mieu și muma mea” “my father and my mother”.^[2][3] The Psaltirea Scheiană has a further variant îmă: „Tatăl mieu și îma mea lăsară-me” “my father and my mother left me”.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Latin mamma (“breast; mother”).^{[4][3][5][6][1]} Ciorănescu calls it an expressive nursery word, built on the idea of food and the person who gives it, which is why it can mean both “mother” and “breast”.^[4] Similar words are widespread: Ancient Greek μάμμα (mámma), Modern Greek μάμα (máma), Albanian mëmë, Italian mamma and French maman.^[4] For Ciorănescu, Aromanian mămos (“goitrous”), from the “breast” sense, shows that the Latin word was inherited.^[4] Philippide linked the word with Albanian, and Cihac with Slavic.^[4]

Pușcariu notes that the old genitive-dative mămâni has a model in the Latin dative ⟨mammanī⟩ of an inscription.^[5] The DLR derives mumă from ⟨mumâniei⟩, for ⟨*mămâniei⟩.^[2] It compares the forms with ⟨î⟩ with Albanian ëmë.^[2][3] De Vaan explains the Latin word as a reduplicated nursery word and traces it to Proto-Indo-European *mama.^[7]

The word survives as Aromanian mamã and Megleno-Romanian mamă.^[4][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psaltirea Hurmuzaki of the early 16th century has the form muma.^[3][2] Tiktin's first record of mamă itself is the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of Sibiu (1551–1553), at Matthew 15:5.^[10]

Semantic evolution

For a long time mumă was the main form;^[10] Tiktin treated mamă as its by-form, used mainly in address and as a title, as in mama soacră “mother-in-law”.^[10] A mother used it to address her child, and an older woman a younger person.^[10][11] DEX also gives a figurative sense “source, cause”.^[11]

In vulgar speech in Muntenia the word joins a possessive and shortens: mă-ta “your mother”, mă-sa “his or her mother”.^[4] The diminutives include mămică, mamaie and mămucă.^[4][10] In Oltenia mucă and muică are used;^[4] Ciorănescu explains muică as a blend with maică.^[4]

Timeline

• early 16th century – muma in the Psaltirea Hurmuzaki.^[3][2]
• 1551–1553 – mamă in the Slavonic–Romanian Gospel of Sibiu.^[10]
• c. 1573–1578 – îma in the Psaltirea Scheiană.^[2]
• c. 1573–1585 – the genitive mamei in the Psaltirea Ciobanu.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. mother: a woman considered in relation to her children, and the name they call her by: de mamă “on the mother's side”;^[11][1] de mama focului “tremendous”;^[11][1] la mama dracului “miles away”.^[11][1]
2. The female of an animal in relation to its young.^[11]
3. (in address) An affectionate word used by a woman to her children or to a younger person.^[11][1]
4. A polite word for an older woman.^[11][1]
5. In compounds: mamă-mare “grandmother”, mamă-soacră “mother-in-law”, mama-pădurii, a forest hag of folklore and also the parasitic plant Lathraea squamaria.^[11]
6. (figurative) A source or cause.^[11]

Interjection

1. (colloquial) An expression of surprise: wow.^[1]

Word family

• mamaie
• mămică
• mămucă
• mucă
• muică
• mamă-mare

Related words

• îmă
• mă-sa
• mă-ta
• mumă
• Aromanian mamã
• Latin mamma

Usage notes

The plural is mame; old and popular texts also have the plural and genitive mămâni.^[3][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. mamă
3. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 1424
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. mamă
5. ^ a b Pușcariu, Sextil (1905), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der rumänischen Sprache I: Lateinisches Element, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 87
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5307
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 653
9. ^ Capidan, Theodor (1935), Meglenoromânii III: Dicționar meglenoromân, București: Academia Română, p. 180
10. ^ a b c d e f Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. mamă
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 614
12. ^ Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Ungureanu, Mădălina; Moruz, Alexandru et al., roPsalt: Re-evaluating the Sixteenth Century Romanian Psalters (aligned corpus), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. Ps 138:12