Re: Speaker Relative Adjectives

Way back at the beginning of this thread, Shaul Vardi wrote:

>
>
>
> In spoken Arabic (I'm familiar with Palestinian, but I believe this
> phenomenon is general), the expressions "yabba" ("O Dad" - the vocative
> ya and the word baba = dad), and yamma (the equivalent for "O Mom") are
> used by *parents* to refer to their children.  The choice is according
> to the gender of the *speaker*, not the child.
>
    I was wondering if there is any connection with the use of the word "mami" by
speakers of  Hebrew who come from
Arabic speaking countries to denote "sweetness" when talking to little children, as
in:

                "Al tivke, mami"  (=Don't cry, darling)

Does anyone on this list know if "mami" comes  from "mamma" or "ima" (= mother)?

Dan Sulani


--
 likehsna  rtem  zuv  tikuhnuh  auag  inuvuz  vaka'a.

 A  word  is  an  awesome  thing.