Why do we call our parents "mom" and "dad?"
The surprising origins of these two ubiquitous terms
These are two of the first words we learn and two that we use most often in our first years of life. Sensor at the same time unique to every person, yet universal to everyone, variations in wordsmom andfather can be foundIn many languages, Back centuries, if not millennia. But exactly how old are these specific words? And why do we call our parents by them anyway?
According to Carrie Gillon, co-founder ofFast brown fox consultation, who holds a doctorate. In linguistics and co-hosts of podcast linguisticsVocal fries, the exact word of "Mom" is actually pretty recent, in the big scheme of things. The first documented use of it goes back to only 1867. Before that, we would say "Mom" (dating from 1844) or, if you go even further, "Mamma" (which was used for the first time in the years 1570).
"But" mom "or his equivalent goes back a very long period (4500 B.c.e.), and it is uncertain how much" dad "goes (at least 1500 B.c.e.)," she says.
Gillon explains that "Mamma" is what linguists call a "reduplication" (or a doubling) of Indo-European, a predecessor or a root, a language for English, Greek, Sanskrit, etc. (It was the common language of about 4500 ECB at about 2500 ECB) that's why the common backgrounds of "Mom" can be found in languages, both ancient and modern, all over Europe, by means -Orient and beyond. For example, the Greek word for the mother is "mamme", while it's "mom" in Latin. Persian, Russian, Lithuanian and French all say "Mom" while the Welsh uses the word "Mom".
That said, many non-Indo-European languages have words that look like these words "ma-", "Māṁ" Hindu to the Korean "Mo" "So it may be better than that," suggest Gillon. "But all languages do not use this form, so it is not universal. Very common - maybe even almost universal-but not universal. "
While the first known use of "dad" is about 1500 B.C., Gillon says, like "Mom", is probably much older. Once again, there are forms in many Indo-European languages, such as Greek ("Tata"), Sanskrit ("Tatah"), Irish ("Daid") and Welsh ("tad"). "There may be other words for" dad "that I do not know in these languages," says Gillon. "And we really do not know how the universal dad is or how far it goes."
We think these words become resurrected because no matter where they are in the world, babies tend to doSimilar bulletin boards as they start talking - usually using lumber-produced lip consonants, such asB,P andM, making words like "baba", "dad" and "mama" typical early "protowords".
Jakobson Roman Lingistesaid that babies make the sounds for "mom" like a "light nasal murmur" during breastfeeding, which could explain why there is such similarityBetween countries and cultures with little other in common.
"It's plausible, so a little funny," said Gillon. "Since this is one of the first sounds we learn and we do the sound while breastfeeding, it may be the first thing like the first thing we say and that parents around the world and Turn it in one of the words of the mother. Speculative, but possible. "
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