madre | OEDoS

madre f. (Noun) "mother;" "village elder" 11th cent. From Latin matrem 'id.,' accusative of mater. From Proto-Italic *mātēr 'id.' From Proto-Indo-European *méh₂-tēr 'id.' From *meh₂-, a root of unknown meaning. Perhaps originally meaning "mother" with *-tēr added by analogy with *ph₂ter "father" (see padre). As a surname de la Madre, perhaps originally given to individuals in reference to the tertiary meaning of madre: terrain cut by a brook or a river. Equally plausible, however, is that it was given in devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus in Christianity. Indo-European Romance Asturian madre, Portuguese mãe, Galician mai, Catalan mare, French mère, Italian madre Italic Oscan maatreís "of the mother," Umbrian matres 'id.,' Faliscan mate "mother," South Picene matereíh "to the mother" Celtic Gaulish matir "mother," Celtiberian matrubos "mothers," Old Irish máithir "mother" Germanic Old Norse móðir "mother," Old High German muoter 'id.,' Old Dutch muoder 'id.,' Old Saxon mōdar 'id.,' Old Frisian mōder 'id.,' Old English mōdor (English mother) Albanian Albanian motër "sister" Balto-Slavic Old Church Slavonic mati "mother," Lithuanian mótė 'id.' Hellenic Ancient Greek μήτηρ (méter) "mother," Mycenaean ma-te-re 'id.' Phrygian Phrygian ματαρ (matar) "mother" Messapian Messapian matura "mother" Armenian Armenian mayr "mother" Indo-Iranian Sanskrit mātár- "mother," Avestan mātar- 'id.' Tocharian A mācar "mother," B mācer 'id.' According to Benveniste (1973), in Indo-European society, the woman who raised the child was called *anna, while the woman with the official title of mother was *māter. This was paralleled in men as well: the man who raised the child was *atta, while the biological father was *pəter. Corominas, J. & J. Pascual. Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e híspanico. 6 vols. Madrid: Gredos. 1991-1997. de Vaan, M. Etymological Dictionary of Latin and Other Italic Languages. BRILL. 2014. Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española. Online. 23rd ed. Madrid: Espasa Calpa. 2014. http://www.rae.es/. Sihler, A. New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin. Oxford University Press. 2008. Tibón, G. Diccionario etimológico comparado de los apellidos españoles, hispanoamericanos y filipinos. Editorial Diana: Mexico. 1988.