Re: Common words for man & husband, woman & wife

R A Brown wrote:

>
>> "standard" baby-talk: bilabial consonant + open(ish) vowel.
>>
>>> But where did "Dad" come from?
>>
>
> From the same source as Welsh & Breton 'Tad' (Cornish is 'tas' or
> 'taz' according to your preferred spelling convention).
>
> Also BritE is not universally 'Mum'; 'Mam' is used in some parts of
> Britain.
>
> In Welsh, Breton & Cornish, 'mam' is not just a hypocorism for one's
> mother; they are the standard word for "mother". Likewise the standard
> word for "father' is 'Tad' (Tas/Taz).
>
> These words are derived from Romano-British 'mamma' and 'tata' both of
> which pre-date the Norman French 'madame' by several centuries.
>
Really?  So 'Mum' and 'Dad' are actually borrowings from Celtic? That's
pretty interesting.  You don't know when the earliest usage of
Mum/Mam/Mom or Dad was, do you?

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