|
|
|
Cf. Basque maradikatu "damned," borrowed from Latin maledicere.
|
|
Asturian malu, Portuguese mau, Catalan mal, French mal, Italian malo, Sardinian malu
Oscan mallom "evil"
Old Irish mell "destruction," Old Breton milin "prostitute"
Lithuanian mẽlas "lie," Latvian màlds "mistake"
Ancient Greek μέλεος (méleos) "idle"
Armenian meɫ "sin"
|
|
Portuguese mama, French maman, Italian mamma, Aromanian mamã, Romanian mamă, Sardinian mama
Old Irish muimme "nurse," "fosterparent," Middle Welsh mam "mother," Middle Breton mam 'id.,' Old Cornish mam 'id.'
Albanian mëmë "mother"
Russian máma "mother," Lithuanian mamà 'id.,' Latvian mãma 'id.'
Ancient Greek μάμμα (mámma) "mother"
Armenian mam "grandmother"
Sanskrit māma- "uncle," Persian mām "mother"
Responsibility as caretaker of a child may not have always belonged to the biological mother, but rather a foster parent. Thus, this word was used for the closely-knit parent, not the official 'mother,' which explains the meaning of "uncle" in Sanskrit and "nurse" in Old Irish. Consider the comment of Matasović (2014) on the Irish example: "The fact that the nursery word *mammā usually does not denote the biological mother is explained by the Celtic custom of fosterage (children are raised by foster-parents, with whom they develop an intimate relationship)." Further consider the comments by Benveniste under madre.
|
|
Portuguese manha
|
|
Asturian mañana, mañá, Portuguese manhã, Galician mañá
Latin maturus "ripe," Matuta "Dawn goddess"
Celtiberian matus, meaning uncertain, Gaulish Matu-genos (name) "goodly born," Old Irish maith "good," Middle Welsh mad 'id.,' Middle Breton mat 'id.,' Cornish mat 'id.'
|
|
Asturian manceba, Portuguese manceba, Galician manceba
|
|
Asturian mancebu, Portuguese mancebo, Galician mancebo
|
|
Portuguese mandar, Galician mandar, Catalan manar, French mander, Italian mandare
|
|
|