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by Jennifer Ruwart | May 17, 2008 at 9:51 PM
Share with the community how you say mother or grandmother in your language OR a language you know!
Do you have any unique names for your mother or grandmother?
Comments
Mama is my mother.
In my language Luo,mother is called 'mama' and in Kiswahili too.
Grandmother in Luo is 'dani'
Grandmother in Kiswahili is 'nyanya'.In Kikuyu,another Kenyan language,grandmother is cucu,with a puctuation like this ~ on top of the u.It is pronounced shosho.
In kiswahili 'sheng' a different Kiswhili used by young people,mother is 'masa' or 'madhe'.
Grandmother in Kiswahili sheng is 'nyanye'.
Yiddish and Hungarian
Great topic!
My maternal grandmother, who I have always called Nanny, grew up in New York speaking a mixture of english and yiddish. The yiddish word for grandmother is 'bubbe' (which can be spelled in a lot of different ways depending on where you're from). But my family uses this word to describe pretty much any older, grandmotherly woman, not just relatives. The yiddish word for mother varies also--"mameleh" is pretty common. And a lot of Jewish children call their mothers "Ima" (which is the Hebrew word for mother).
I have always called my paternal grandmother "Nana" and my paternal great-grandmother "Granny." I don't know who made up those names for them, but I have heard that 'Nana' is a pretty common yiddish term of endearment for a grandma. Both Nana and Granny escaped to the US from Hungary after the Holocaust. From the very little Hungarian that I know, the Hungarian word for grandma is "Nagyi" and the word for mother is "anya." If you want to speak endearingly about your mother, you can call her "edesanya."
I am lucky enough to have both Nanny and Nana still living life to its fullest--and living right around the block from one another! Both are strong, wise women to be reckoned with!
does english count? ;)
I'm an english speaker, but my kids - they call me momma and they call my mom Bodee. They call their great grandmother (my paternal grandma) GG. This summer while I was traveling to Rwanda, they spent 2 weeks with their Grandparents, Bodee and Pops, and Great Grandparents, GG and Gramps, in the mountains of Colorado making memories! What a special treat for them. I'm so thankful for those relationships in their lives.
Kindly,
'becca
Heck ya!
You made realize I did not answer my own question!
At 7, almost 8 months, Jonah calls me mamamama. My mom and dad are mama and papa. Shawn's parents are grammy and poppy. Shawn's grandparents are mom-mom and pop-pop. Growing up, my grandparents were grandma and grandpa with my mother's father getting an extra Paul on the end for grandpa paul.
I, too, am so thankful Jonah has these wonderful relationships in his life. Thank you for sharing.
Jennifer
In Welsh
In welsh we have a differnt way,
Mom or Mum is ... Mam
Grandma ... Nain said like the number 9
Grandad is ... Taid said like the tide that comes in on the beach
meme
in my language, Oshiwambo, mother is called Meme and Grandmother is called Kuku
feminist is fun!