Why “Mama” Has the Same Meaning in Almost Every Language
In the 10 most widely spoken languages in the world, the word for mama (meaning “mother”) is: m?ma, mama, mamá, ma, mama, mamã, maa, mama, haha and mam?.
Another way to see it: 3.35 billion people speak either Mandarin (Mãma), Hindi (m??), English (mama), or Arabic (m?ma).
The sound “ma” is nearly universal among the Indo-European languages. (Check out the long list of amazingly similar European words for mama on this Wikipedia page.)
But even in non-Indo-European languages, very similar sounding words correspond to the word for “mother.” Navajo is amá, Quechua is mama, Ancient is Egyptian is mut, Korean is eomma and Swahili is mama.
The modern English word “mother” comes from Middle English moder, deriving from Old English m?dor.
While this seems like evidence of an ancient universal language or collective unconscious, research shows ...
Read more at https://5amily.com/mama/blog/why-mama-shares-a-singular-meaning
