mama

The origin of the noun is uncertain; it is probably a reduplication of ma, thought to be a sound made by babies when breastfeeding. The word is possibly influenced by Middle French maman (“mother”) (modern French maman), mamme (both probably from Latin mamma (“breast; nurse; (childish) mother, mama; grandmother”), probably cognate with Ancient Greek μᾰ́μμη (mắmmē, “breast; (childish) mother, mama; (Koine) grandmother”), both possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂- (“to nurse; mama, mother”)), but this is also uncertain as all the words could have developed independently as onomatopoeias.

Etymology 1, noun sense 3 (“(Caribbean) used as a term of address for a woman”) is possibly partly from a West African language; compare Akan mmá, mmaa (“woman”).

The interjection and verb are derived from the noun.

Borrowed from Xhosa umama and Zulu umama, sometimes only distinguishable from English mama (see etymology 1) by the context and pronunciation.