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MOTHER

Posted: Sat May 08, 2010 10:29 pm
by Dr. Goodword
• mother •

Pronunciation: mê-dhêr • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: The female parent, a woman who bears and/or primarily raises a child.

Notes: Mother, the word, has borne a large and happy family of derivational offspring. The adjective and adverb of this noun are both motherly, which has a noun, motherliness, that expresses the affection and nurturing of good mothers. The status of being a mother is, of course, motherhood, as a woman who enjoys motherhood. The new term for "baby talk" is motherese since we discovered that it is an affectation of mothers and not childish speech. Just as mothers often must handle two jobs, so does today's Good Word, which doubles as a verb. "She mothers him too much," means that she is too attentive to his needs.

In Play: Mothers are the central part of our lives and often of other things as well: the central part of a computer is the motherboard and Mother Earth and Mother Nature completely enfold us. The mother of all sales would be the biggest imaginable sale and the one imitated by all others. Our mothers are the critical part of our lives and of things that are bigger than life.

Word History: It is most appropriate that the word for "mother" in Proto-Indo-European originated in the first recognizable syllable uttered by babies: ma. This syllable was attached to a kinship suffix, -ter, which also turns up in brother, father, and sister. The original form, mater-, later evolved into the current words for "mother" that we now find in all the Indo-European languages: Latin mater, Greek meter (as in metropolis, the mother city), German Mutter, French mère, Serbian majka, Russian mat', materi, Italian and Spanish madre, Portuguese mãe, Danish moder, Dutch and Afrikaans moeder, Norwegian and Swedish mor, Icelandic móðir, Irish máthair, Hindi mataji, Gujarati maataa, Farsi (Persian) madar, and Pashto (Afghanistan) mor. If you are a mother, may this day be as beautiful and exciting as your name in all these languages.

Posted: Sun May 09, 2010 12:15 pm
by LukeJavan8
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Re: MOTHER

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 12:38 pm
by Slava
As this posting of mother has but one response, I think I'll put my new find here.

Another definition of mother:
a stringy slime containing various bacteria that forms on the surface of liquids undergoing acetous fermentation. It can be added to wine, cider, etc to promote vinegar formation

[C16: perhaps from mother 1 , but compare Spanish madre scum, Dutch modder dregs, Middle Low German modder decaying object, mudde sludge]

mothery — adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
From Worthless Word for the Day:
dregs, sediment; scum; mold; esp. the lees or sediment of wine; the scum rising to the surface of wine or beer (not to be confused with your mother)
mothery [see previous] thick, moldy

Re: MOTHER

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 12:57 pm
by LukeJavan8
To say nothing of "Mother Ship" or "Mother Lode".

Re: MOTHER

Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 5:31 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Thought I posted this yesterday, but it must not have taken.
Saddam Hussein as a linguist threatened us with the "mother of all wars," which it turned out not to be. However, the "mother of _____" terminology has gained a minor foothold in the language. Appears to mean the biggest, worst, or best.

Re: MOTHER

Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 11:33 am
by LukeJavan8
Saddam did indeed leave us a legacy, and what a curious
one from such a person.