7 ms·

Their story checks out. Using google translate, I can't find a single language that does not have a 'mama' or something very similar.

sunnybythesea 13y ago
Most Indian languages also follow this pattern, however Marathi uses 'Aai' for mother
- shrikant 13y ago
  The "pure" Tamil word for mother is "thaai". There's no relation between the two languages, however.
  - sunnybythesea 13y ago
    That's interesting, I never knew that...thanks
drdaeman 13y ago
Fun thing I found on Wiktionary is that in Georgian, /mɑmɑ/ is a word for father[1] and mother is /dɛdɑ/[2]. Add: oh, and it's "panjo" in Esperanto... :) Other languages outside of rule may possibly include Eshtehardi, Fijian, Greenlandic, Inuktitut, Igbo, Kyrgyz, Malay, Maori, Mari, Moksha, Thai and Vietnamese (suspections per http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mum#Translations http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mum#Translations and http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother#Translations http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother#Translations). Personally, I've unfortunately never even heard about half of those languages, and not familiar with the ones I've heard about to the extent I can confirm or opposite. [1]: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90#Georgian http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90%E1%83%9B%E1... [2]: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%93%E1%83%94%E1%83%93%E1%83%90#Georgian http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%93%E1%83%94%E1%83%93%E1...
- kiba 13y ago
  As a member of a Vietnamese speaking household, mom is still vaguely similar to English. Of course, I could be wrong since I have moderate hearing loss.
unhammer 13y ago
You didn't look well enough: http://translate.google.com/#en/ka/mom%0Amother%0Adad%0Afather http://translate.google.com/#en/ka/mom%0Amother%0Adad%0Afath... (Though for some reason, GT translates English "mama" into Georgian "mama", meaning 'father'. But then, one should really not use GT for linguistic research …)

sunnybythesea 13y ago

Most Indian languages also follow this pattern, however Marathi uses 'Aai' for mother

shrikant 13y ago
The "pure" Tamil word for mother is "thaai". There's no relation between the two languages, however.
- sunnybythesea 13y ago
  That's interesting, I never knew that...thanks

drdaeman 13y ago

Fun thing I found on Wiktionary is that in Georgian, /mɑmɑ/ is a word for father[1] and mother is /dɛdɑ/[2]. Add: oh, and it's "panjo" in Esperanto... :) Other languages outside of rule may possibly include Eshtehardi, Fijian, Greenlandic, Inuktitut, Igbo, Kyrgyz, Malay, Maori, Mari, Moksha, Thai and Vietnamese (suspections per http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mum#Translations http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mum#Translations and http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother#Translations http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mother#Translations). Personally, I've unfortunately never even heard about half of those languages, and not familiar with the ones I've heard about to the extent I can confirm or opposite. [1]: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90#Georgian http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%9B%E1%83%90%E1%83%9B%E1... [2]: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%93%E1%83%94%E1%83%93%E1%83%90#Georgian http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E1%83%93%E1%83%94%E1%83%93%E1...

kiba 13y ago
As a member of a Vietnamese speaking household, mom is still vaguely similar to English. Of course, I could be wrong since I have moderate hearing loss.

unhammer 13y ago

You didn't look well enough: http://translate.google.com/#en/ka/mom%0Amother%0Adad%0Afather http://translate.google.com/#en/ka/mom%0Amother%0Adad%0Afath... (Though for some reason, GT translates English "mama" into Georgian "mama", meaning 'father'. But then, one should really not use GT for linguistic research …)