# mother, father



## lazarus1907

I am curious about this: In many languages, mother, mum, mom, or mommy are very similar in many languages, and the same goes for father, dad, daddy, pop...

In European languages it is no surprise, but then, in Chinese they say "mama" (like in Spanish, or "mum/mom" in English) and "baba" (which sounds like in Spanish, or "pop" in English).

In Japanese this is radically different (except maybe for "haha"): "okaasan" for mother and otoosan and chichi (familiar) for father, which is interesting, considering the strong cultural influence China has had in Japan.

How do you say both mother and father in your language?

Thanks


----------



## alc112

Lazarus!!
Te equivocaste de lugar.
Esto va en All Languages!!
mi aporte:
Spanish: Mamá Papá
German: Mutter Vater


----------



## diegodbs

Basque: ata-aita (father), ama (mother)
Turkish: ata-baba (father), anne (mother)


----------



## vince

lazarus1907 said:
			
		

> In Japanese this is radically different (except maybe for "haha"): "okaasan" for mother and otoosan and chichi (familiar) for father, which is interesting, considering the strong cultural influence China has had in Japan.


I have a feeling that perhaps basic words are the ones most resistant to borrowing, so maybe that's why Japanese kept its unique forms. But I might be wrong, since the same numerals are used from Thai to Japanese.

I wonder if Basque kept its unique forms for father and mother, or whether it adopted pa- and ma- forms from Roman conquerors

EDIT: my question got answered! looks like Basque kept its unique forms despite heavy cultural influence from Latin and its descendants, Spanish and French. So the same thing probably happened with Japanese.

EDIT 2: oh wait a minute, ama does sound like "ma" a bit, and "aita", could it be from pater --> fater --> haita --> aita?


----------



## lazarus1907

Gracias, Diego
Thanks everyone

The Basque versions I knew, but I had no idea about the Turkish ones. ¿How many languages do you speak anyway? 

It is interesting the presence of the "m" or "n" in mother (or is it my imagination?).


----------



## lazarus1907

> I have a feeling that perhaps basic words are the ones most resistant to borrowing, so maybe that's why Japanese kept its unique forms. But I might be wrong, since the same numerals are used from Thai to Japanese.


I have the same feeling about the Japanese (I language I personally like). However, for some reason or another, this "mam(a)" similarity could easily be the most (traditionally) internationally common feature in the world for a single word, except for some exceptions. Hence my interest.


----------



## diegodbs

lazarus1907 said:
			
		

> I have the same feeling about the Japanese (I language I personally like). However, for some reason or another, this "mam(a)" similarity could easily be the most (traditionally) internationally common feature in the world for a single word, except for some exceptions. Hence my interest.


I read once the theory that since m-m-m and p-p-p-p (bilabial sounds) were the first sounds that babies uttered, in the beginnings of human language adults identified them as referring either to mother or father. That's why the striking similarity of these words (baba, mama, papa, mam, etc) in almost all languages. So these words date back to the early human language and not to loans from one language to another. It seems an interesting theory.
It would be interesting to know these two words in languages belonging to unrelated families, say Urdu and Aymara, or Inuit, Finnish and Hebrew, etc.

In Russian: mat' (mother), otets (father)

By the way, in classical Greek: patér, méter.
In Sanskrit pitár (father). I can't remember the word for mother but it is very similar to Greek. 
No wonder, since they belong to the same Indoeuropean root.


----------



## Le Pamplemousse

French: Père, Mère
Latin: Pater, Mater


----------



## poul

Danish : mor / moder (mother)
Danish : far / fader (father)


----------



## Suane

In Slovak language:
*Mother* = Matka (nobody calls mother in that way), Mama (very common), 
diminutives are Mamka, Mamička (mamichka), slang- Mamča
(mamcha), to address- Mami (sounds like mummy),...
*Father* = Otec, Oco (Otso), diminutives are Ocko, Otecko, Tato, Tatko,
archaisms are Apko, Naňko, slang- Foter, to address- Oci,...

Someone mentioned "*baba*", that is not very good way how to call Grandmother or older woman in Slovakia but also it means girl (sometimes woman) in coloqial or slang way. Diminutive way how to call Grandmother is "babka". 
It will be maybe also interesting to create a topic about Grandparents.


----------



## Mutichou

In French:
Mother = mère, mummy = maman, father = père, daddy = papa.
In Chinese:
媽媽/妈妈 (māma)
爸爸 (bàba)


----------



## Chaska Ñawi

In Quechua, Mama (mother, also goddess) and Tata (father, also god).

Children address their parents as Mamay and Tatay (mother mine, father mine).  

You also have such deities as the Pachamama (the earth goddess) and the Saramama (the corn goddess).

Tata Inti is the sun god and Mama Killa is the moon goddess.

I'd be interested to see whether any other languages use the same vocabulary for parents and deities.  (In Christian English, God is often called "Father".)


----------



## weirdgirl

It may be a recent development but in Japan I hear papa and mama used quite often to refer to one's own parents especially by small children.

Máire


----------



## lotjed_13

dutch (nederlands)
mother = moeder
mum = ma / mam (spoken language) / mams (spoken language)/ mama
father = vader
dad = pa / pap (spoken language) / paps (spoken language)/ papa

greetz!!!


----------



## Roshini

In Malay,
mother - emak, mak, ibu(formal)
father - bapa, papa, abah(formal)

Tagalog:
mother - inay, nay, nanay 
father - itay, tay, tatay

Tamil :
Mother - amma(pronounced as am - ma)
Father - appa(")

Chao! Have fun!


----------



## Whodunit

Some additions:

German:
mom/mommy = Mutti/Mama
dad/daddy = Vati/Papa

Arabic:
mother/mom = أم ('um)/ماما (mama)
father/dad = أب ('ab)/بابا (baba)

I just remember two other possibilities: waalida (والدة) and waalid (والد) for mother and father.


----------



## ronanpoirier

In portuguese:

*Mãe* - _Mamãe_ (mother)
*Pai* - _Papai_ (father)

In hungarian:

*Anya* - _Mama - Anyu_ (mother)
*Atya* - _Apu - Páter_ (father)


----------



## Hakro

diegodbs said:
			
		

> It would be interesting to know these two words in languages belonging to unrelated families, say Urdu and Aymara, or Inuit, Finnish and Hebrew, etc.


 Finnish doesn't follow the rule:

Mother = "äiti"
Father = "isä"

We often use the words "mamma" and "pappa" of Swedish origin. 

Very common slang words are "mutsi" and "fatsi" that seem to be quite close to English although that's not their etymology.


----------



## Negg

In persian :

*mâdar* = mother 
*pedar* = father
*mâmân* = mum
*bâbâ* = dad


----------



## charlie2

Mutichou said:
			
		

> In Chinese:
> 媽媽/妈妈 (māma)
> 爸爸 (bàba)


There is more to it.
父親 (*f*uqin) for "*f*ather"
母親 (*m*uqin)for "*m*other".
When you want to say "your father" in a polite way, we have the formal /(old perhaps ?) form of "令尊" (lingzun) for "your father" and "令堂”(lingtang) for "your mother". There you no longer see any trace of the "f" or the "m".
And if you are talking about your father (or mother) who has passed away, we drop the "qin" and add "先" in front, to make 先父 for "father".
There are others too, but I don't want to enhance the idea that Chinese is indeed a very difficult language to learn.


----------



## Outsider

ronanpoirier said:
			
		

> In portuguese:
> 
> *Mãe* - _Mamãe_ (mother)
> *Pai* - _Papai_ (father)


Also _mamã_ and _papá_.



			
				Chaska Ñawi said:
			
		

> I'd be interested to see whether any other languages use the same vocabulary for parents and deities.  (In Christian English, God is often called "Father".)


I think all Christians do. 'Our Father, thou art in Heaven...'



			
				diegodbs said:
			
		

> I read once the theory that since m-m-m and p-p-p-p (bilabial sounds) were the first sounds that babies uttered, in the beginnings of human language adults identified them as referring either to mother or father. That's why the striking similarity of these words (baba, mama, papa, mam, etc) in almost all languages. So these words date back to the early human language and not to loans from one language to another. It seems an interesting theory.
> It would be interesting to know these two words in languages belonging to unrelated families, say Urdu and Aymara, or Inuit, Finnish and Hebrew, etc.


I'd also be interested in how these words are said in Native American languages and Australian Aborigine languages.

Here's an interesting table with family names across IE languages.


----------



## Temis

In italian
Mother = _Madre_
Mom = _Mamma_
it's very used the term _Mà_

Father = _Padre_
Papi = _Papà, babbo, Pà_


----------



## beatrizg

In Greek:

Mother:

*Μητέρα *(mitera). Also *μάνα* (mana),* μαμά* (mamá)

Father:

*Πατέρας* (pateras). Also: *μπαμπάς *(babás)


----------



## parakseno

In Romanian:

mother - mamă
father - tată


----------



## capsi

Bengali : mother -- ma
             father -- baba

 Hindi : mother --- ma , in some places  ammí , amma
          father  -- baba , bapu (in villages generally )


----------



## DanTheMan

Korean:

어머니: (omoni) Mother
아버지: (aboji) Father
엄마: (omma) mom
아빠: (appa) dad


----------



## Jhns

HI all 
here is my two pence

Hebrew (this language is close to Arabic in origin)

Ima = Mother 
Aba = Father 

Savta = Grandmother 
Saba = Grandfather

Cheers,JHNS


----------



## alby

Croatian:

Mother - *Majka*
Mum - *Mama*
father - *Otac*
Dad - *Tata*


Nataša


----------



## id:roya

lazarus1907 said:
			
		

> I am curious about this: In many languages, mother, mum, mom, or mommy are very similar in many languages, and the same goes for father, dad, daddy, pop...
> 
> In European languages it is no surprise, but then, in Chinese they say "mama" (like in Spanish, or "mum/mom" in English) and "baba" (which sounds like in Spanish, or "pop" in English).
> 
> In Japanese this is radically different (except maybe for "haha"): "okaasan" for mother and otoosan and chichi (familiar) for father, which is interesting, considering the strong cultural influence China has had in Japan.





			
				diegodbs said:
			
		

> I read once the theory that since m-m-m and p-p-p-p (bilabial sounds) were the first sounds that babies uttered, in the beginnings of human language adults identified them as referring either to mother or father. That's why the striking similarity of these words (baba, mama, papa, mam, etc) in almost all languages. So these words date back to the early human language and not to loans from one language to another. It seems an interesting theory.


When a Japanese baby says "manma (まんま)", that means he wants "food", and when he says "oppai (おっぱい)" or  "paipai (ぱいぱい)", he wants to suck his mom's breast. Hmm, so I think I can conclude that food and boobs means as a big deal to Japanese as relationships does to other peoples.


----------



## macta123

In Hindi
Mother/Father -  Mata/Pita
When you call your     Mother - Mataji ; Ma ; Mummy 
When you call your     Father -  Pitaji ; Papa


----------



## ayed

In Arabic:
Father : Ab
Mother:Omm
-----------
ya abi :"Oh!my father"
ya ommi :"Oh!my mother"
-----------
Childish language:
Baba : "my father"
Mama : "my mother"
-----------
Colloquial :
ya yubah : "Oh!my father"
ya yummah :"Oh!my mother"
---------
Nomadic dialct:
ya yabah :"Oh!my father"
yayam : "Oh!my mother"

thank you all

Ayed's regards


----------



## mahaz

In Urdu,
Mother: Maa, Ammi, Amma jee
Father: Baba, Abu, bao jee


----------



## Bosta

Does anyone know any Georgian? I believe that 'mama' means father.


----------



## JLanguage

Jhns said:
			
		

> HI all
> here is my two pence
> 
> Hebrew (this language is close to Arabic in origin)
> 
> Ima = Mother
> Aba = Father
> 
> Savta = Grandmother
> Saba = Grandfather
> 
> Cheers,JHNS


 
While those are used in Modern Hebrew, they are borrowed from Aramaic. The Hebrew equivalents are:

אם\em
אב\av
סב \sav
סבה\savah


----------



## ~*LaNa-J*~

*אם\ em *
*אב\ av  *
*סבא\ sava*
*סבתא\ savta*

*and 'ema אמא ----- aba אבא*


----------



## Jagoda

*Polish:*

mother = matka
mommy = mama,  more diminutives-mamusia, mamunia, mateczka, matula

father = ojciec
daddy = tata, more diminutives-tatus, tatusiek


----------



## Fragline

*Norwegian:*

Mother: _Mor_
Mom: _Mamma_
Father: _Far_
Pop: _Pappa_


----------



## FrancescaVR

In *Savunese* (*Lii Hawu*):

Papa means father
Mama means mother

Also 

Ama means father/dad
Ina means mother/mum

Ina is also a platonic address for female

And

Ama is also a platonic address for male

*Since Savunese are of Hindi (People from India) descendants, the word ama may have derived from paricular dialect (old) from the region. But I don't know for sure. It is only my guess.*

==================================


			
				lazarus1907 said:
			
		

> I am curious about this: In many languages, mother, mum, mom, or mommy are very similar in many languages, and the same goes for father, dad, daddy, pop...
> 
> In European languages it is no surprise, but then, in Chinese they say "mama" (like in Spanish, or "mum/mom" in English) and "baba" (which sounds like in Spanish, or "pop" in English).
> 
> In Japanese this is radically different (except maybe for "haha"): "okaasan" for mother and otoosan and chichi (familiar) for father, which is interesting, considering the strong cultural influence China has had in Japan.
> 
> How do you say both mother and father in your language?
> 
> Thanks


----------



## FrancescaVR

In Indonesian: 

Bapak means father
Ibu means mother

*Ibu* can also means *madam, Mrs*.
Subtitute to *ibu *is *bu.*

*Bapak* can also means *sir, Mr.*
Subtitute to *bapak* is *pak*.


----------



## FrancescaVR

In* Danish:*

Mor means mother
Far means father

*Mor og far* means mum and dad (father and mother)
=======================================

*But*

Morsmor means mother's mother (maternal grandma/grandmother)

And

Morsfar means mum's dad/father (maternal granddad/grandfather)

While

Farsfar means dad's father (paternal grandpa/grandfather)

And 

Farsmor means dad's mother (paternal grandmother)


----------



## Bienvenidos

Interesting, the word for mother in Pashto is the same as the word for mother in Danish!

*Pashto:*

*Mother = Mor*
*Father = Plar*

Saludos y Suerte
*Bienvenidos*


----------



## illerdi

diegodbs said:
			
		

> Basque: ata-aita (father), ama (mother)
> Turkish: ata-baba (father), anne (mother)


 

does ata mean father in basque?

I don't think so. We only use aita. 

So,
aita = father
ama = mother


----------



## Pivra

Thai
Mother: มารดา Marda (look like merde and mierda lol) (read Manda )
Father: บิดา Bida (read Pida )
Mom= Mae, mama
Dad= Po, papa

Something of the fater = Pitu, Something of the mother = Matu

Motherland in Thai is Matubhumi, and if someone kills his fater it would become an act of Pitughatr and for mother it would be Matughatr


			
				diegodbs said:
			
		

> In Sanskrit pitár (father).


This word, ปิตร(using Thai alphabets to write since I dont have Devanagari in my computer) 
and for mother in Sanskrit is Mata, but this word, for me has a conotation more with the Mother of the Universe, the Goddess.
The name of Mt. Everest in Sanskrit is Sakalamata, which means The Mother of the Universe.

Another word in Sanskrit for mother is Martar (yes... it sounds funny if you are Spanish lol) 

 In Thai both Pitar and Martar are used sometimes when you want to take the sentence sounds smooth but only one can be Pitar or Martar.
Eg.

Pitar Manda = Father Mother but not Pitar Martar. I don't know why.  



Jawi... I think
Mom: Ma
Dad: Pa


----------



## mauricio ibañez

en algunas partes del sur de chile

taita

maire


----------



## chuff

Non-transliterated Russian:


*мать*
_mat'_
mother

*отец*
_o-TETS_
father


----------



## EmmaEvans

*Moderator note:*
*This thread was started in the wrong forum and was moved here.*
*Please, before opening a new thread, search in the forum to make sure your question was not asked -and answered- before.*
*Thanks *


I want to find names for "father" in as many languages as I can.
Example: My "father" is the husband of my mother.


----------



## belén

Hi Emma, welcome to the forums.
I have moved your question from the Catalan forum as you ask for something that involves more than one language. 


Spanish : padre
Catalan: pare


----------



## parakseno

Welcome!

In Romanian you can say: tată, tătic 
(but there are several more, less "literary" forms).


----------



## Outsider

More words here.


----------



## tanzhang

In Tagalog:

Father - Itay, Tatay, Ama.

My "father" is the husband of my mother.
-Ang ama ay ang asawa ng inay ko.

-ama-father, asawa-husband or wife, inay-mother.

mother - inay, nanay


----------



## Alijsh

(Iranian) Persian: pedar

Pedar-am showhar-e mâdar-am ast (My father is the husband of my mother).


----------



## mimi2

Father: cha, ba, bố, thầy, cậu,...
My father is the husband of my mother: Ba của tôi là chồng của mẹ tôi.


----------



## Ssara

In Swedish:

moder, mor, mamma
fader, far, pappa

The most strict one to the left,
the most colloquial to the right.


----------



## Tim~!

lazarus1907 said:


> How do you say both mother and father in your language?



Well, Esperanto's a little different because it's artificial.

The important word is _patro_ which, not surprisingly, means 'father'.

To make a word clearly femine, we use the suffix -in.  For example, a cow (in general) is _bovo_.  To specify a heifer (a female cow), we say _bovino_.

Apply this rule to 'father' to get mother; _patrino_.

The plural in Esperanto is formed by adding -j.  Unfortunately, you can't use _patroj_ to mean 'parents' because this actually means 'fathers'.  However, there is the prefix ge- that means 'of both sexes', so 'parents' = _gepatroj_.

As for 'mummy' and 'daddy': Esperanto also has special suffixes to form pet names.  -cĵ is used for males, -nj for females, although these are unique in that they sometimes require you to cut or elongate the root into something smaller or bigger.

For example, _Vilhelmo_ is William, so Bill/Will/Willy are rendered by _Viĉjo_, _Vilĉjo_, _Vilhelĉjo_ etc.  Maria might find herself being called _Manja_, _Marinja_ etc.

So, the word for 'daddy' is _paĉjo_;'mummy' is _panjo_.


----------



## gao_yixing

Hi
I'm afraid Chinese name 妈妈(mā ma), 爸爸(bà ba) are from English or other European languages, because they didn't exist in classical Chinese. In ancient China, mother is called 母(mŭ) or 娘(niáng), father is called 父(fù) or 爹(diē).
Regards,
Anthony


----------



## daoxunchang

I don't think so. http://www.ses.pudong-edu.sh.cn/ses/department/website/zsd/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=3184
 I once read a novel in which a father said "城里人叫爸，平原上人叫爹，咱们山里人叫大people in the city say ba, people on the plain say die, and we people  in the mountains say da". And it's not that "people in the city say ba" after the over-hundred-year invasions began.
As for "mother": http://www.ses.pudong-du.sh.cn/ses/department/website/zsd/UploadFiles/2007123175622562.doc
清《冷庐杂识》中载：《尔雅》对母亲称“妣”，《诗经》称“母氏”，《北齐书》称嫡母为“家家”，《汉书》列侯子称母为“太夫人”。其他记载还有：帝王之母称“太后”，官员之母称“太君”，一般人之母称“妈妈”。
I read in a novel about Cao Xueqin, he has to call his blood mother mama, while call the first wife of his father niang娘.


----------



## Qcumber

Tagalog (Philippines):
*father: amá*
daddy: [common] itáy / tátay > táy; [uncommon] tátang, amáng
From Spanish > English: papá

*mother: iná*
mum: [common] ináy / nanáy > náy; [uncommon] nánang, ináng
From Spanish > English: mamá, mamáng.

So, in standard Tagalog, the phoneme /m/ is associated with the male parent.

*Amaín* [ama'?in] *"uncle"* is obviously derived from _amá_ "father", but there is no indication it was originally the uncle on the father's side.
There is no equivalent (* inaín) for "aunt", the term being _ále_. 

A lot of Tagalogs only use the Spanish terms.
Uncle: Span. tío > Tag. tíyo > tiyó
> [diminutive]: tiyóng, tiyúhin
Aunt: Span. tía > tíya > tiyá 
> auntie: tiyáng, tiyáhin


----------



## Maja

In Serbian:

mother - *majka */ *мајка*
father - *otac */ *отац *
 mum - *mama */ *мама*
dad - *tata* / *тата*


----------



## Qcumber

daoxunchang said:


> I don't think so. http://www.ses.pudong-edu.sh.cn/ses/department/website/zsd/Article_Show.asp?ArticleID=3184
> I once read a novel in which a father said "城里人叫爸，平原上人叫爹，咱们山里人叫大people in the city say ba, people on the plain say die, and we people in the mountains say da". And it's not that "people in the city say ba" after the over-hundred-year invasions began.
> As for "mother": http://www.ses.pudong-du.sh.cn/ses/department/website/zsd/UploadFiles/2007123175622562.doc
> 清《冷庐杂识》中载：《尔雅》对母亲称“妣”，《诗经》称“母氏”，《北齐书》称嫡母为“家家”，《汉书》列侯子称母为“太夫人”。其他记载还有：帝王之母称“太后”，官员之母称“太君”，一般人之母称“妈妈”。
> I read in a novel about Cao Xueqin, he has to call his blood mother mama, while call the first wife of his father niang娘.


Would you be so kind as to give the dates of these texts? 
I suppose you are mentioning the originals, not translations into Modern Chinese.


----------



## DrWatson

Hakro said:


> Finnish doesn't follow the rule:
> 
> Mother = "äiti"
> Father = "isä"
> 
> We often use the words "mamma" and "pappa" of Swedish origin.
> 
> Very common slang words are "mutsi" and "fatsi" that seem to be quite close to English although that's not their etymology.



It might be interesting to know that the word for mother "*äiti*" used nowadays is not of Finnish origin: it comes from Gothic word _eiþai. _An older word for mother is *emo *or *emä*, which are still used today but only when referring to animal mothers. They also appear in some compound words, like motherboard "*emolevy*".

P.S. I've never heard anyone refer to one's father as "pappa", I used to call my grandfather "pappa". Maybe it occurs in Southern dialects, but I'm not sure.


----------



## konungursvia

lazarus1907 said:


> Gracias, Diego
> Thanks everyone
> 
> The Basque versions I knew, but I had no idea about the Turkish ones. ¿How many languages do you speak anyway?
> 
> It is interesting the presence of the &quot;m&quot; or &quot;n&quot; in mother (or is it my imagination?).



 I am not being facetious, but I suspect the word "ma ma" has an onomatopoeion as its origin: babies when suckling can only make the /m/ sound. Whence mammary, mammals, etc. What do you think?


----------



## coconutpalm

daoxunchang said:


> I read in a novel about Cao Xueqin, he has to call his blood mother mama, while call the first wife of his father niang娘.


 
There's unequality in other aspects. If one is born by a concubine, she has no right to have him/her call her mother, at least legally or traditionally. Sad fact. Concubines were possessions, not human beings.


----------



## daoxunchang

Qcumber said:


> Would you be so kind as to give the dates of these texts?
> I suppose you are mentioning the originals, not translations into Modern Chinese.


Sorry, It was time for me to sleep, so I just did this rather unsolid disprovings. I'll try to elaborate now.
Again sorry, Qcumber, but I'm afraid I cannot give the exact dates of the two novel examples. It was really a long ago I read them. All I can tell you that they are contemporary novels. BUT, the FATHER I mentioned in the first example is a countryman who lived in a small and for many years unchanged village. All he knew was what was passed down from his ancestors. I'm sure this detail tells the truth.
As to second detail in another novel I referred to, I believe the author had done some research for this. And from my experience in reading novels written in Ming and Qing Dynasties, I choose to believe the author had his reasons for having writing so.
Qcumber, if you are interested, you can go and find some novels written in "colloquial Chinese" in the above mentioned two dynasties. The characters are often town people at that time. There are many "妈妈"s there, but this title is often used to call those elderly women, too.

About father:http://www.ses.pudong-edu.sh.cn/ses/...ArticleID=3184
I'll try to translate some of the content on this page.
按“古无轻唇，‘鱼’‘模’转‘麻’，故‘父’为‘爸’的说法，‘爸实即’父‘之本音。（黎锦熙，１９３３）这个说法在今天的方言和外语的对音中还可以找到旁证：福建一些方言保留“父”的词中，“父”的声母都念[p]（冯爱珍，１９９３）；雷州话中……朝鲜语……
This paragraph says that ba爸 is actually the original pronunciation of fu父, and this theory can find support in many dialects and some foreign languages, e.g. some dialects in Fujian and Korea.
同时，这也就意味着中古以后之后，就开始有两个称父的词，一个是与口语相异的“父”（广韵：扶雨切），一个是记录口语的“爸”（集韵：必驾切）。但现有的文献似乎又表明后者始终并没有取得正统的地位。
Since ancient times, there have been two words addressing father: ba爸 in spoken language and fu父 in contrast with spoken language (In my opinion, it's better to say "in contrast with common people, the uneducated). Unfortunately, the former has never acquired an orthodox status.
“爸”最早见于三国魏张揖所著《广雅》一书。
The word 爸ba was first seen in a book in the Three Kingdoms Period.

For mother: http://www.ses.pudong-du.sh.cn/ses/d...3175622562.doc
清《冷庐杂识》中载：《尔雅》对母亲称“妣”，《诗经》称“母氏”，《北齐书》称嫡母为“家家”，《汉书》列侯子称母为“太夫人”。其他记载还有：帝王之母称“太后”，官员之母称“太君”，一般人之母称“妈妈”。
The last sentence states that "mothers of common people are called mama妈妈".


----------



## coconutpalm

Um, there's another proof, not very decent though. It's joked that Chinese people's 国骂national swear words is “操你妈(妈 is mom)”, literally meaning motherfuck. I have rarely heard or seen 操你娘(娘 is another common addressing word for mother). And really, the latter doesn't sound very real, fluent, or Chinese.

Sorry for using this example, but sometimes we can indeed see something from the bad side.


----------



## Qcumber

daoxunchang said:


> Since ancient times, there have been two words addressing father: ba爸 in spoken language and fu父 in contrast with spoken language (In my opinion, it's better to say "in contrast with common people, the uneducated). Unfortunately, the former has never acquired an orthodox status.
> “爸”最早见于三国魏张揖所著《广雅》一书。
> The word 爸ba was first seen in a book in the Three Kingdoms Period.
> For mother: http://www.ses.pudong-du.sh.cn/ses/d...3175622562.doc
> 清《冷庐杂识》中载：《尔雅》对母亲称“妣”，《诗经》称“母氏”，《北齐书》称嫡母为“家家”，《汉书》列侯子称母为“太夫人”。其他记载还有：帝王之母称“太后”，官员之母称“太君”，一般人之母称“妈妈”。
> The last sentence states that "mothers of common people are called mama妈妈".


Thanks a lot. You needn't have given such a long explanation, although I'm sure sinologists will be interested (I am not a sinologist). All that matters is to know when the terms baba and mama started being used in Chinese.


----------



## zeatadu

As far as I know, in English we call it"father and mother",or "dad and mum".
And in China,we call it "ba ba"and "ma ma",sometimes also short it to "ba"and "ma".
In the old days of China,we call it "die" and "niang".

What do you call your parents in your country, I wonder?


----------



## Chazzwozzer

In the old times, Turks called their fathers* "ata"*, and their mothers *"ana"* 

In some parts of Turkey, the word *ana *still strongly exists but *ata *seems to have lost its original meaning. I, like many people around, call my father *"baba"* and my mother *"anne"*.


----------



## badgrammar

In the U.S, it is typically "Mom" (Mommy) or "Dad" (Daddy).  You may also hear "Pop" (Pops), but it is kind of old-fashioned, and occasionally Papa.  

I think in the UK it is "Mum" (Mummy), and I'm not so sure about what they call their fathers, or if it is any different, but I would guess "Dad".

In France it's "Maman" (usually heard as m'man) and "Papa".  I don't think I have ever heard any different terms used for that in France.  Except perhaps in very high-class families where children might use "père" and "mère", but I think that is very unusual today.


----------



## irene.acler

In *Italian*:
padre - madre (formal)
papà - mamma (more informal).
According to the region, there are other forms, for example: pà/babbo and mà.


----------



## Joannes

Chazzwozzer said:


> *ata *seems to have lost its original meaning. I, like many people around, call my father *"baba"*


 
Arabic influence? They say *بابا* too, don't they? Or just under the influence of child language?

In Dutch we have *vader* 'father' and *moeder* 'mother', but when adressing them I think most people would say *papa* and *mama*. But of course there's variation between families, especially when stepfathers and stepmothers come into play, or with families with two mummies or two daddies.


----------



## Whodunit

The words for "Father" and "Mother" are "*Vater*" and "*Mutter*," respectively, in German.

Children - and many older people (I'm one of them  - call them "*Papa*" and "*Mama*," whereas others prefer "*Vati*" and "*Mutti*."

Babies call them "*Papi*" and "*Mami*," but these words are usually not used when children get older.

"Parents" are "*Eltern*" in German, which is derived from "älter" (older) = _the elderly_.


----------



## olivinha

In Brazilian Portuguese:
father: pai
mother: mãe
dad/daddy: papai, pai, paizinho, papaizinho
mom/mommy: mamãe, mãe, mãezinha, mamãezinha

O


----------



## bcn27

In Spanish
father: papá
mother: mamá
some children would say "papi" and "mami"

In catalan:
father: pare o papa
mother: mare o mama


----------



## Honour

Addition to what Chazz has written;

People rarely use *valide* for mother and *peder* for father. I've to indicate that they are rather formal.


----------



## yuggoth

lazarus1907 said:


> I am curious about this: In many languages, mother, mum, mom, or mommy are very similar in many languages, and the same goes for father, dad, daddy, pop...
> 
> In European languages it is no surprise, but then, in Chinese they say "mama" (like in Spanish, or "mum/mom" in English) and "baba" (which sounds like in Spanish, or "pop" in English).
> 
> In Japanese this is radically different (except maybe for "haha"): "okaasan" for mother and otoosan and chichi (familiar) for father, which is interesting, considering the strong cultural influence China has had in Japan.
> 
> How do you say both mother and father in your language?
> 
> Thanks


http://www.logosdictionary.org/pls/dictionary/new_dictionary.gdic.st?phrase_code=1337315

http://www.logosdictionary.org/pls/dictionary/new_dictionary.qdic.st?phrase_code=4309521

Busca aquí,hay cuatro o cinco...


----------



## Alxmrphi

Icelandic

*Mother* - mamma
*Father* - pabbi


----------



## Chazzwozzer

Honour said:


> Addition to what Chazz has written;
> 
> People rarely use *valide* for mother and *peder* for father. I've to indicate that they are rather formal.


Hey there, Onur. Uh, you mean _in_formal by any chance?


----------



## jonquiliser

Ssara said:


> In Swedish:
> 
> moder, mor, mamma
> fader, far, pappa
> 
> The most strict one to the left,
> the most colloquial to the right.


 
Moder and fader aren't really used, unless it is for their archaic or old-fashioned flavour. An addition of colloquial terms would be "morsa(n)" and "farsa(n)" (the definite being used when addressing the parent in question). Though some kids call their parents by name, and as Joannes pointed out, it varies with family (as in a family with two mums/dads, or with step-parents).


----------



## deine

Lithuanian:

mother - motina, mama
mammy - mamyte

father - tėvas, tėtis
pop- tėvelis, tetukas


----------



## Honour

Chazzwozzer said:


> Hey there, Onur. Uh, you mean _in_formal by any chance?


Selam abi,
Actually, i did mean formal. 
Isn't it more natural to say "Valide Hanım nasılsınız?" than saying "Valide naber?". I thought this way. what do you think?


----------



## teentitans

Here's the filipino version:

Mother - ina, inay,mamita,mamamia,inahan
Father - itay, tatay, papsy,amahan


----------



## suslik

In Estonian:
mother: ema
mommy: emme

father: isa
daddy: issi

but we use mamma and papa too, but not so often as "emme" and "issi"


----------



## Chazzwozzer

Honour said:


> Selam abi,
> Actually, i did mean formal.
> Isn't it more natural to say "Valide Hanım nasılsınız?" than saying "Valide naber?". I thought this way. what do you think?


Well, I thought like, _anne _is the word you'd use in a formal document, not _valide_. That's why _valide _appeared to me that it was rather informal, but of course it sounds pretty much formal/polite when used with _hanım_.


----------



## allec

In Indonesian:
Mother = Ibu, mama, mami 
Father = ayah, papa, papi


----------



## Little Kitty

muij einfach so 
German ;
Mother:Mama,Mutter
Fatherapa,Vater


----------



## vikramkr

Hindi:

Mother - माता (matá)
Father -  पिता (pítá)


----------



## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, the formal words are _patro_ (father) and _patrino_ (mother).  The familiar terms are _panjo_ (mom, mum, mummy) and _paĉjo_ (dad, daddy, papa, pop).


----------



## bb3ca201

Anns a’ Ghàidhlig / in Gaelic
mathair / mother
athair / father

If you’re calling them, however, you use the English (but with Gaelic spelling): Mamaidh, Dadaibh


----------



## MarX

Hi!

I call my parents *Papa* and *Mama*, but we have many words for _Father_, and at least three for _Mother_.

Salam


----------



## Kanes

Bulgarian:
maika 
bashta


----------



## juliebebz

in zamboanga, Philippines...

mother - nana / madre
father - tata / padre


----------



## szammel

Hi 

This is my first time here!

Saudi Arabic:
My father: abuy(a)
My mother: ummi

O my father: yoba
O my mother: yumma/yamma


Tunisian arabic:
My father: bába
My mother: mamá/ummi

O my father: papá/bába
O my mother: mmá/mamá (and other possibilities, depending on the family)


----------



## ThomasK

I hope I did not miss a point, but my feeling is that we ought to have distinguished from the start between 
- descriptive (correct ?) words like father/ mother
- affective words like dad(dy), mum(my)
- words that may be both descriptive and affective.

It seems clear to me that the affective words are the most 'creative', with reduplication, or m-bilabial and b/p-bilabial plosive, and often very open (a) or very closed (i)...


----------



## BP.

*Urdu* (formal), not appellations:

_*maada*r, waalida, maa.n_ - mother
_*padar*, waalid, baap_ - father

Among others.

I could spot the very obvious PIE/Latin heritage.


----------



## girishjimenon

diegodbs said:


> I read once the theory that since m-m-m and p-p-p-p (bilabial sounds) were the first sounds that babies uttered, in the beginnings of human language adults identified them as referring either to mother or father. That's why the striking similarity of these words (baba, mama, papa, mam, etc) in almost all languages. So these words date back to the early human language and not to loans from one language to another. It seems an interesting theory.
> It would be interesting to know these two words in languages belonging to unrelated families, say Urdu and Aymara, or Inuit, Finnish and Hebrew, etc.
> 
> In Russian: mat' (mother), otets (father)
> 
> By the way, in classical Greek: patér, méter.
> In Sanskrit pitár (father). I can't remember the word for mother but it is very similar to Greek.
> No wonder, since they belong to the same Indoeuropean root.


----------



## girishjimenon

In Sanskrit, the word for mother is "mata" pronounced as maata. Isnt it curious that most of the languages have similar words, pater, mater, father, mother, etc.?


----------



## Rallino

> Addition to what Chazz has written;
> 
> People rarely use valide for mother and peder for father. I've to indicate that they are rather formal.





> Hey there, Onur. Uh, you mean "in"formal by any chance?





> Selam abi,
> Actually, i did mean formal.
> Isn't it more natural to say "Valide Hanım nasılsınız?" than saying "Valide naber?". I thought this way. what do you think?





> Well, I thought like, anne is the word you'd use in a formal document, not valide. That's why valide appeared to me that it was rather informal, but of course it sounds pretty much formal/polite when used with hanım.


The word "valide" used to be common, but now it sounds so formal that it feels absurd. I don't think anyone uses it.

The word _peder_ _(lit. priest) _is definitely informal, even slang.


----------



## Hakro

girishjimenon said:


> Isn't it curious that most of the languages have similar words, pater, mater, father, mother, etc.?


It's not so curious as most of the European languages have the same origins. Instead I find curious that most of the "mother"-words include a m-letter (m-sound), even Finnish (emo, emä) and estonian (ema, emme). There aren't many exceptions.

Instead for father, many languages have the p/b/f-sound to begin the word but there are other languages with a totally different word.


----------



## Rallino

I'd also like to add that, in Turkey, babies learn to say "father" first, then "mother". As you can imagine, the word for father: _baba_ is a lot easier to produce than that for mother: _anne_.


----------



## Hakro

Rallino said:


> I'd also like to add that, in Turkey, babies learn to say "father" first, then "mother". As you can imagine, the word for father: _baba_ is a lot easier to produce than that for mother: _anne_.


That's something exceptional, I think!


----------



## ThomasK

This is a dangerous track, but somehow I always wonder whether there is a parallel between gender (cultural 'image', ...) and sound: plosives for the male, liquida for female.


----------



## Frank06

ThomasK said:


> This is a dangerous track, but somehow I always wonder whether there is a parallel between gender (cultural 'image', ...) and sound: plosives for the male, liquida for female.


I cannot follow very well. Could you please give examples other than 'mother' and 'father'? In both words, the only liquid is /r/ (at least in the variants which do pronounce an /r/-like consonant). 
None of these words have a plosive (at least not in English). If you'd be refering to 'mama' and 'papa', then we do have plosives in 'papa', but no liquids in 'mama' (/m/ is a nasal sonorant).

Maybe I missed a few of them (or even the whole point), but I don't see a lot of liquids in the various words for 'mother' throughout, which would surprise me any which way: aren't liquids quite tough to pronounce for little kids?

As far as I understood, the class of sonorants include the liquids (and nasals and glides).

So, could you please explain what you mean and give examples?

Frank


----------



## ThomasK

Aaarrrrhhhh, I made a mistake, I guess. I thought l/r and m/n all belonged to the liquids. I thought I remembered that from my phonetics classes some 30 years ago, but I seem to be mistaken. I simply considered a plosive a 'macho' sound and the 'm' way softer (and longer).


----------



## Maroseika

Hakro said:


> II find curious that most of the "mother"-words include a m-letter (m-sound), even Finnish (emo, emä) and estonian (ema, emme). There aren't many exceptions.


And here are some of them.

Georgian:
father - მამა (mama)
mother - დედა (deda)
grandfather - პაპა (papa)
grandmother - დიდედა (dideda)

Tatar
mother - ana

Kazakh
mother - ana, apa

Yakutian
mother - ийэ - iye

Hungarian
mother - anya

Mordvinian-Moksha
mother - тядя - tӓdӓ

Mordvinian-Erzya
mother - ava

Mongolian
mother - ээж - eezh


----------



## Orlin

Kanes said:


> Bulgarian:
> maika/майка = mother
> bashta/баща = father


Clarification and addition of the official Cyrillic script for Bulgarian.
To add the diminutives for Bulgarian:
Mum = мама (mama);
Dad = татко/тате (tatko/tate).


----------



## jana.bo99

I don't see here Slovenian.
Even if I am not originally from here, I will write how is right:

Slovenian:

Father: Oče
Mother: Mati

There are other nuances:

Mother: Mami
Father: Oči, Ati

B.


----------



## ilocas2

Czech:

*mother* - matka
informal/diminutives - máma, mamka, mamča, maminka
most used word when speaking to one's own mother - mami !

*father* - otec
informal/diminutives - táta, taťka, tatínek
most used word when speaking to one's own father - tati !
derogatory word - fotr


----------



## tyhryk

*Ukrainian:*
батько - father
тато - daddy
мати - mother
мама - mommy
батьки - parents

*Armenian:*
հայր - father (hayr)
հայրիկ - daddy (hayrik)
մայր - mother (mayr)
մայրիկ - mommy (mayrik)
ծնողներ - parents (ts-n-o-r french-n-e-r)

*French:*
père - father
mère - mother
parents - parents


----------



## ThomasK

Then Armenian seems quite different from most others: no plosive, just aspiration...


----------



## Tjahzi

Actually, I would say that the Armenian is quite logic as well. _Mayr_, as you say, contains the usual sonorant (I believe that was the term you were looking for above).

Additionally, _hayr_ comes from Old Armenian _hatir_ which in turn is a cognate of PIE *ph₂tḗr.


That said, this was confusing!



Maroseika said:


> Georgian:
> *father - მამა (mama)*
> mother - დედა (deda)


----------



## ThomasK

I had not thought of that, you're right, but I was thinking of the affectionate name, dad (_koosnaampje_, we'd call it - what is it in English? Not _nickname_, I think): that is where I find the plosive so typical !


----------



## Tjahzi

I'm not sure those have a specific name really. I would refer to the form as the _informal_, _colloquial _or possibly _diminutive_.

Hm, isn't the plosive standard for most languages? Isn't it's just we Northern Europeans that have aspirated our initial /p/ so much it eventually became /f/? After which we borrowed our plosive containing informal forms from abroad? 
I'm not sure, but I think that's how the story goes, and a plosive all the way is nothing but the standard.


----------



## ThomasK

Really? I thought most of the affectionate names (I am only referring to those) mentioned had that. But I agree: we also have _vader_, not _p._.., but the affectionate name seems to be _papa_ (though I think we used something like _va_ and _moe_ in my dialect, which would confirm your hypothesis).


----------



## Tjahzi

Just to be clear, my hypothesis was that all forms, in "all" languages originated with a plosive (papa/baba/etc). 
In Germanic languages, this plosive became a fricative (vader/fader/Vater/father).
After this, we borrowed new words (from languages in which the plosive -> fricative change had not occurred) to serve as the informal/colloquial/diminutive/affectionate forms of our, now formal, standard words containing a fricative.


----------



## Alxmrphi

> Just to be clear, my hypothesis was that all forms, in "all" languages originated with a plosive (papa/*b*a*b*a/etc).
> In Germanic languages, this plosive became a fricative (vader/fader/Vater/father).


Remember that voiced plosives became voiceless plosive in Germanic .
It was the voiceless ones that turned to voiceless fricatives (and the aspirated voiced ones became voiced fricatives, before changing once again to unaspirated voiced plosives later on).
*
West Greenlandic:*
_Mother - anaanaq
Father - ataataq_

A nice  plosive (masculine) / nasal (feminine) relationship there, too.


----------



## Tjahzi

Indeed. By "all" languages, I meant Indo-European/some other language-families (although that, even written out, is quite vague ). 

Also, I suppsoe you are aware of that the full sequence you are describing can only be applied to German.


----------



## Alxmrphi

Tjahzi said:


> Also, I suppsoe you are aware of that the full sequence you are describing can only be applied to German.



Well, I was only describing the initial shift, which is Germanic (and described here).
Voiced fricatives became unaspirated voiced plosives after (like in English, for the most part). What I described was not meant to be the end result of Germanic today, only from when PG split off from PIE.


----------



## Jamaisleño

Jamaican Creole:

Muma - Mother 
Pupa - Father


----------



## francisgranada

Hungarian

*anya* - mother 
*atya *- father (also for priests and the God)
*apa*- father

*anyu, anyuka, mama, mamuka* - mum
*apu, apuka, papa, tata* - dad


----------



## mataripis

the real tagalog for Father and Mother.  Formal=  ama(father)   Ina(Mother)    informal=  itay/tatay(father)  inay/nanay(mother)


----------



## fifi48

Does anyone know what mum and dad are in Greek?
In arabic they are Mama and Baba or Umee and Aby.


----------



## fifi48

Arabic is my language. We say Umee and Aby or Mama and Baba.


----------



## apmoy70

fifi48 said:


> Does anyone know what mum and dad are in Greek?
> In arabic they are Mama and Baba or Umee and Aby.


Check here


----------



## chifladoporlosidiomas

In Kreyòl (~French)
Formal:
Père=father
Mère=mother
papa=dad
mama=mom

My mom=mama'm
my dad=papa'm


----------



## llile

*Georgian:*
father - მამა (mama)
mother - დედა (deda)
grandfather - ბაბუა (babua)
grandmother - ბებია (bebia)

grandfather - პაპა (papa)
grandmother - დიდედა (dideda) - these are dialect forms


----------



## efshar

In Estonian (islander dialect):

'mammi' - mom
'papi' - dad (same goes with grandfather - '_vanapapi' _old father)


----------



## tFighterPilot

Babies call their mother "ma" and their father "ba"\"pa". They often repeat it so it becomes "mama" and "baba". I think it's an instinctive thing all humans are born with. Also, grandmother is often something with "ta".


----------



## Selyd

tyhryk said:


> *Ukrainian:*
> батько - father
> тато - daddy
> мати - mother
> мама - mommy
> батьки - parents



батько - father ба́тенько, ба́течко
тато - daddy та́тко, тату́сь, тату́сьо, тату́ньо, тату́сенько, не́ньо, ня́ньо, не́нько, ня́нько
мати - mother ма́тір, ма́тінка, ма́тірка
мама - mommy не́ня, не́нька
батьки – parents


----------



## OneStroke

爹 sounds like 'dad' in my opinion.


----------

