667: mom and mum Oct 5, 2016

Ever since there were humans there were moms, but 'mom' which is a fairly new word, dates back only to the 19th century. As etymologies go, this one is rather simple, as it was derived via 'momma' from 'mama'—both of which are still used—onomatopoetically created based off of a baby's first sound. It may seem logical that the British equivalent, 'mum', would have the same roots, but this is not the case as one might expect considering also as there are plenty of words that between American and British spellings only differ by the letter, U, but have the same meaning. 'Mum' is much older and is instead derived via 'mummy' and via the earlier 'mammy' ultimately from "ma'am". 'Ma'am' or also 'madam' itself comes from the Old French, 'ma dame' or 'my lady'. It may seem odd now, but titles were used instead of 'mom' or 'dad' commonly well into the 20th century, so certainly it was not uncommon several centuries ago.