Home
Mother. The word is a common word used in households, and it is especially prevalent because today is Mother’s Day. Speaking of which, anybody ever wonder where the word mother came from? There are hundreds of languages in the Earth, but the word mother is strikingly similar even in different languages. In English, it is obviously mother. In Spanish, it is called madre. In German, it is called mutter. In Chinese, it’s pronounced mama, and in Korean, it is pronounced um-ma. It seems that the m-word is very common among mother in different languages. So where did the word mother originate from? The word mother originated from Old English modor. The verb form of modor meant “to take care of”—fitting since mothers take care of us. From the old word, the different derivations came out, and the word mother is prevalent among many cultures today. Even with different languages, the word mother, especially the informal form mommy or mama, is common in different countries throughout the world.
Mother’s Day is a significant day. It’s a celebration and a holiday for the women who have raised us every since we were in their wombs. I hope all of you called your mothers or visited them today. You have to tell how much you love them and how much you mean to them. Think about it—without mothers, there would be no us. Men impregnate women—it is never the other way around. Therefore, if there were no women in this world, then there are no us. Now can you see how important mothers are to us? We should also take note that as college students, we should never neglect to see how our mothers are doing. We are too busy growing up sometimes that we easily forget that our parents are growing older every day. I remember when my maternal grandfather died. It was a very dark time for me, because I never got to see him before he passed away. Since he was in Korea, my mother had to go back to Korea for the funeral. I spent about a week without my mother, and immediately I could feel the impact of a house absent of a mother figure. We had to order in food every day. My sister and I were the ones cleaning the house, doing chores, and taking care of each other. I smoked a lot during that time, mainly because it was harder for me to get caught without my mom around. However, I felt something was missing in the house every time I came in. When my mom returned from Korea, I was very happy to see her. But I noticed something that I hadn’t noticed before—she looked significantly older. It hit me hard that my parents age too. It sounds like a rather stupid statement, but we really don’t realize until much later how older our parents have gotten. How self-absorbed was I to not realize that my mom and my dad was growing older and older? Therefore, I want to be with my parents before they pass away.
The origination of the word mother isn’t really important. What’s really important is that we recognize and respect our mother as our caretakers, and show them appreciation for it. Seriously, are you going to explain away the meaning of mother and where it originated in Mother’s Day? Good luck saying that to the person next to you. I would slap the person who asked where the word mother came from. Not that the topic itself is interesting. It is funny to note that a lot of cultures pronounce the word mother similarly. But back to my original point. I love my mom. She always took my side, and supported me no matter what. The touching part of this is that I’ve always been a bad son. I don’t think I showed my mom proper appreciation for what she’s done to me. I always look up to my dad because he is the male figure of the house. But my mom always does behind the scene stuff to make sure I don’t fail. My mom is just an amazing person. She can cook, she can clean, and she does this while having a job. I honestly think there wasn’t a time where my mom treated me badly. Besides from the occasional punishments, she’s always been good to me. She’s the only one that believed in me when I promised her I would get into UCLA. In that sense, she is very valuable to me.
I realize that this topic journal went off the tangent, so I apologize in advance. But do I regret talking about this? Not in the slightest. The research part of the origination of the word mother was fun. But I really wanted to talk about the significance of our mothers because I don’t think it’s stressed enough. We have so many things to do that we always forget about the significance of our mothers. We forget what an important figure our mother is in our lives. Just the fact that different cultures have similar pronunciations for the word mother should mean something to you. Cultures respect mothers no matter what because they recognize the importance of a nurturing and supporting person in the family, and how much of an impact they can make in our lives. So if you see your mother today, give her a hug and tell her what she means to you.
Works Cited
"Online Etymology Dictionary." Online Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
"Where Do the Words for Daughter, Son, Aunt, Uncle, Mother, Father, Cousin, Nephew, Niece Come From?" Etymology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
Mother’s Day is a significant day. It’s a celebration and a holiday for the women who have raised us every since we were in their wombs. I hope all of you called your mothers or visited them today. You have to tell how much you love them and how much you mean to them. Think about it—without mothers, there would be no us. Men impregnate women—it is never the other way around. Therefore, if there were no women in this world, then there are no us. Now can you see how important mothers are to us? We should also take note that as college students, we should never neglect to see how our mothers are doing. We are too busy growing up sometimes that we easily forget that our parents are growing older every day. I remember when my maternal grandfather died. It was a very dark time for me, because I never got to see him before he passed away. Since he was in Korea, my mother had to go back to Korea for the funeral. I spent about a week without my mother, and immediately I could feel the impact of a house absent of a mother figure. We had to order in food every day. My sister and I were the ones cleaning the house, doing chores, and taking care of each other. I smoked a lot during that time, mainly because it was harder for me to get caught without my mom around. However, I felt something was missing in the house every time I came in. When my mom returned from Korea, I was very happy to see her. But I noticed something that I hadn’t noticed before—she looked significantly older. It hit me hard that my parents age too. It sounds like a rather stupid statement, but we really don’t realize until much later how older our parents have gotten. How self-absorbed was I to not realize that my mom and my dad was growing older and older? Therefore, I want to be with my parents before they pass away.
The origination of the word mother isn’t really important. What’s really important is that we recognize and respect our mother as our caretakers, and show them appreciation for it. Seriously, are you going to explain away the meaning of mother and where it originated in Mother’s Day? Good luck saying that to the person next to you. I would slap the person who asked where the word mother came from. Not that the topic itself is interesting. It is funny to note that a lot of cultures pronounce the word mother similarly. But back to my original point. I love my mom. She always took my side, and supported me no matter what. The touching part of this is that I’ve always been a bad son. I don’t think I showed my mom proper appreciation for what she’s done to me. I always look up to my dad because he is the male figure of the house. But my mom always does behind the scene stuff to make sure I don’t fail. My mom is just an amazing person. She can cook, she can clean, and she does this while having a job. I honestly think there wasn’t a time where my mom treated me badly. Besides from the occasional punishments, she’s always been good to me. She’s the only one that believed in me when I promised her I would get into UCLA. In that sense, she is very valuable to me.
I realize that this topic journal went off the tangent, so I apologize in advance. But do I regret talking about this? Not in the slightest. The research part of the origination of the word mother was fun. But I really wanted to talk about the significance of our mothers because I don’t think it’s stressed enough. We have so many things to do that we always forget about the significance of our mothers. We forget what an important figure our mother is in our lives. Just the fact that different cultures have similar pronunciations for the word mother should mean something to you. Cultures respect mothers no matter what because they recognize the importance of a nurturing and supporting person in the family, and how much of an impact they can make in our lives. So if you see your mother today, give her a hug and tell her what she means to you.
Works Cited
"Online Etymology Dictionary." Online Etymology Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
"Where Do the Words for Daughter, Son, Aunt, Uncle, Mother, Father, Cousin, Nephew, Niece Come From?" Etymology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013.
