# All Slavic languages: stará mama, stara mama, stara majka, etc.



## wtfpwnage

Babicka je ve Slovenstine stara mama? 

*MOD EDIT: Split from THIS thread.*


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## slovac

wtfpwnage said:


> Babička je *v *Sloven*č*ine star*á* mama?



Yes,but I dared repair your sentence. Please have a look at it.
You can use also Babka instead of Babička.
Or starká.


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## TriglavNationalPark

The term *stara mama* is also used in Slovenian and, I suspect, some other Slavic languages as well. (But not, as far as I know, the standard forms of BCS.)


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## Duya

It is used in BCS (_stara majka_), but it is dated; sort of thing from folk poetry.


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## vianie

What I can say, *stará mama* is not a native term for the grandmother in the west third of the Slovak Rep and I guess in the east third too. However I very naturally call my granny in the midland by that name.


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## Azori

vianie said:


> What I can say, *stará mama* is not a native term for the grandmother in the west third of the Slovak Rep and I guess in the east third too.


According to an article here (pdf, p. 205 - 208), _stará mama_ - and its variants - _stará matka, stará mať_... etc. are (/were) used in central Slovak dialects, mostly in the northern part of central Slovakia.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Azori said:


> According to an article here (pdf, p. 205 - 208), _stará mama_ - and its variants - _stará matka, stará mať_... etc. are (/were) used in central Slovak dialects, mostly in the northern part of central Slovakia.



Interesting. The article even points out the parallels between Central Slovak and Slovenian terminology for grandparents ("Stredná slovenčina má pri týchto názvoch paralely v slovinčine, v ktorej sa na pomenovanie starého otca použiva vedľa názvu _ded_ aj spojenie _stari oče_, a takisto vedľa názvu _babica_ (babka) aj _stará mati_ [sic -- should be _star*a* mati_].")*

This seems to suggest that *stara/stará mama/mati/majka, etc*., isn't as common in the Slavic world as I had supposed. Besides Central Slovak, Slovenian, and BCS (as an archaism in the latter case, as Duya pointed out), does it exist in any other Slavic language or dialect?

* By the way, this is one of many parallels between Central Slovak on one hand and Slovenian, along with certain BCS dialects, on  the other. Several such features, albeit not the terminology for grandparents, are discussed in Fran Ramovš's _Kratka zgodovina slovenskega jezika (A Short History of the Slovenian Language)_.


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## DarkChild

In Bulgarian, it is used as a mild curse as in мама му стара/mama mu stara = His/it's old mother.

Otherwise grandmother is baba, which babichka is a derogative.


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## Azori

TriglavNationalPark said:


> This seems to suggest that *stara/stará mama/mati/majka, etc*., isn't as common in the Slavic world as I had supposed. Besides Central Slovak, Slovenian, and BCS (as an archaism in the latter case, as Duya pointed out), does it exist in any other Slavic language or dialect?


Stará mama / matka / mať etc. are used in standard Slovak as well, not just in dialects. However, they seem to come from central Slovak dialects.


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian there is no term *старая мама */staraya mama/; I suppose it means “grandma” in some Slavic languages?

The general term for grandma is *бабушка* /babushka/ or *бабка* /babka/ (the latter is more ‘official”). 
Other terms are *бабуля* /babulya/ (endearing) or *баба* /baba/ (small children who cannot speak well use that, sometimes it sticks and grandchildren keep calling their grandma that as they grow up).

*Баба* sometimes can be used for any woman (rude) and *бабка* for any older woman (also rude/derigatory).


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## TriglavNationalPark

rusita preciosa said:


> In Russian there is no term *старая мама */staraya mama/; I suppose it means “grandma” in some Slavic languages?



Yes, that's what it means in Slovenian, Slovak, and BCS (archaically in the latter case).

Slovenian also uses *babica* for "grandmother," whereas *baba* is a pejorative term for a woman (usually an older woman). Interestingly enough, the Russian borrowing *babuška* is commonly used in Slovenian to refer to a matryoshka doll (матрёшка).


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## Eunos

In some bulgarian dialects from the Rhodopi mountain region there is <<стара нана>> which is used as grandmother. Also only <<нана>> means mother.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Eunos said:


> In some bulgarian dialects from the Rhodopi mountain region there is <<стара нана>> which is used as grandmother. Also only <<нана>> means mother.





So we can add another Slavic language -- or at least a dialect thereof -- to our list.


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## itreius

In addition to the already mentioned _stara majka_, BCS also has _stara mama_, _stara mati_ as well as _stara baka_ and _stara nona_ (the latter two meaning _great-grandmother_).


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