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"mother" in seven languages

Meaningmother

Spanish

madre

/ˈmadɾe/

fem.inherited

French

mère

/mɛʁ/

fem.inherited

Italian

madre

/ˈmadre/

fem.inherited

Portuguese

mãe

/mɐ̃j/

fem.inherited

The t of MĀTREM went all the way to nothing, as in French, leaving a nasal diphthong.

Romanian

mamă

/ˈmamə/

fem.other source · nursery word (Latin had MAMMA)

Romanian lost MĀTER; the old maică survives in religious and rural speech.

Catalan

mare

/ˈmaɾə/

fem.inherited

The t softened to d and then vanished, leaving a single r.

English

mother

/ˈmʌðɚ/

Indo-European kin · PIE *méh₂tēr

English → ItalianmothermadreDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: maternal, matrix, matron.What English and Italian share

Watch out: false friends

  • mare (Italian) means “sea” · mare (Catalan) means “mother”

    Coincidence. Catalan mare is MĀTREM worn down (as pare is PATREM); Italian mare is Latin MARE 'sea'. Romanian mare is 'sea' too — and also 'big'.

All false friends

The Latin ancestor

MĀTREM‘mother’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

The t of MĀTREM softened to d in Spanish and Italian and vanished in French, where the free a also became è. Learned cognates keep the t: maternal, materno, maternel.

English relatives: maternal, matrix, matron

Sound laws at work

Voiceless stops between vowels softenFrench stressed free A becomes e

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In a sentence

  • esMi madre es profesora.
  • frMa mère est professeure.
  • itMia madre è insegnante.
  • ptMinha mãe é professora.
  • roMama mea e profesoară.
  • caLa meva mare és mestra.
  • enMy mother is a teacher.

More in Family

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