The word “mother” is pronounced
similarly in many other languages. For instance mother is
“madre” in Spanish,
Italian, and some other Latin languages, “moeder” in Afrikaans, “om” in Arabic,
“ama” in Basque, “maui” in Belarusian, “majka” in Bosnian, “майка” in
Bulgarian, “matka” in Czech, “mor” in Swedish and Danish, “moeder” in Dutch,
“mere” in French, “mutter” in German, “mádar” in Farsi, “máthair” in Irish,
“mor” in Norwegian, “mama” in Russian and Polish, “mãe” in Portuguese, “mama”
in Romanian, and “mam” in Welch (with the help of Google Translate).
Considering that “m” is the first sound that a child utters, it is the first
word that a child learns is to call his or her mother. The word “mammal” is
taken from the same root.