*ammǭ

Runic: ᚨᛗᛟ Pronunciation: /ˈɑm.mɔ̃ː/

noun · feminine · ōn-stem

Meanings

  1. grandmother; a parent’s mother
  2. wet nurse, nurse
  3. mother; especially as an affectionate or nursery term

Etymology

A nursery word or hypocorism (Lallwort), ultimately imitative rather than derived from a Proto-Indo-European lexical root. The word belongs to a widespread Indo-European nursery word type characterized by labial nasals, and reduplicative or geminate structure; compare Ancient Greek ἀμμά (ammá) , ἀμμία (ammía), Latin amma, Oscan ammai, and Albanian amë. De Vaan (2008: 38–39) formally reconstructs *h₂em(m)-h₂ for the Italic and comparable forms, but the variable gemination and the propensity of amma-type words to arise independently in child language make a regular PIE lexical reconstruction uncertain; the forms are better regarded as inherited and/or recurrent parallel nursery formations rather than secure cognates in the strict comparative sense. (Beekes 2010: 88, s.v. ἀμμά; Hansen 2018: 177).

Declension

CaseSingularPlural
Nom.ammǭammōniz
Acc.ammōnųammōnunz
Gen.ammōnizammōnǫ̂
Dat.ammōniammōmaz
Inst.ammōnēammōmiz
Voc.ammǭammōniz

Find a form

Descendants

  • *ammā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *amma (Old Dutch)
      • amme (Middle Dutch)
        • amme, am (Dutch)
  • *ammā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • amma (Old High German)
      • amme (Middle High German)
        • Amme, Oma (German)
  • *ammā (Proto-West Germanic)
    • *amma (Old Saxon)
      • amme (Middle Low German)
        • Ooma (Plautdietsch)
  • amma (Old Norse)
    • amme (Danish)
    • omma (Faroese)
    • amma (Icelandic)
    • amma (Norwegian Bokmål)
    • amma (Norwegian Nynorsk)
  • amma (Old Norse)
    • amma (Old Swedish)
      • amma (Swedish)

Explore/search these descendants

View on Wiktionary

Entries that mention this word