全世界有那么多语言，许多语言中“妈妈”的发音却十分相似。
In a lot of languages, the word for “mother” seems often either to be mama or have a nasal sound similar to m, like nana.
世界上很多语言中，“母亲”这个词通常要么是mama，要么有类似于m的鼻音，比如娜娜。
如中文里的“妈”就是字正腔圆的鼻辅音m加上一个元音a。
英语的“mom/mum”就已经跟中文足够相似了。更相似的是意大利语——mamma（挪威人也这么叫），几乎一模一样。
为了解释这种相似性，有人拿出了语系和语族的概念。
可以观察到，语言近亲间“妈妈”的发音相似是好理解的，比如说英语、法语、意大利语、挪威语。
When it comes to European languages closely related to English, like the Romance and Germanic ones, the similarity isn’t so surprising. After all, these languages are children of what was once one language, which linguists call Proto-Indo-European. So if French has maman, and Italian has mamma, and Norwegian has mamma, then maybe that’s just a family matter. 如果说的是与英语密切相关的欧洲语言时，比如罗曼语族的语言或者日耳曼语族的语言，它们内部的相似性并不奇怪。毕竟，这些语言是同一种语言的后代，语言学家称之为原始印欧语。所以，如果法国人说maman，意大利人说mamma，挪威人也说mamma，一家人说一家话不奇怪。
那不同语系间的相似性怎么解释呢？
上到高加索山，下到非洲，或者深入内陆，亦或是远到太平洋岛国，各地语言里的“妈妈”相似得可怕——很明显超出了单个语系的范围。
In Africa, Swahili has mama. In the Philippines, Tagalog has nanay. Fijian has nana. Mandarin, so intimidatingly different from English to the learner, soothes unexpectedly in offering up mama. Chechen in the Caucasus? Naana. Native American languages? Eskimo has anana; Koasati, spoken in Louisiana and Texas, turns out to have mamma. 非洲的斯瓦希里语说mama。菲律宾的塔加洛语说nanay。斐济语说nana。对学习者来说，汉语普通话与英语有着惊人的不同，但别怕，至少“mama”这个词是相同的。高加索车臣地区说Naana。美洲土著语言呢？爱斯基摩语说anana；在路易斯安那州和得克萨斯州使用的Koasati语也说mamma。
著名语言学家Roman Jakobson的观点会让人觉得——啊，原因这么简单。
In his groundbreaking paper “Why ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’?,” linguist Roman Jakobson pointed to the first syllable babies are usually capable of making: “ah,” or “mah.” These are usually the first sounds babies reach for because they don’t require complex mouth positions (or the use of tongue or teeth). Moreover, “mah” is associated with the murmuring sound a baby makes when it’s breastfeeding. 语言学家罗曼·雅各布森在其开创性的论文《为什么是’Mama’和’Papa’？》中指出，婴儿能发的第一个音节是“啊”或“mah”。婴儿最先能发出这俩音节是因为这两个音节不需要很复杂的口腔位置（使用到舌头或者牙齿）。此外，“mah”还与婴儿吃奶时发出的嘟哝声有关。
使用不同语言的人们不单单是用类似的发音来叫妈妈，他们赋予母亲的词汇也大多类似 —— They are strength, wisdom, and love, etc. 力量、智慧、爱……
美国前最高法院大法官曾提到母亲教她要独立——这也成了她一生的注脚之一。
My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent.
我母亲告诉我要做个淑女。对她来说，这意味着做你自己，独立。
—— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
鲁斯·巴德·金斯伯格（美国联邦最高法院历史上第二位女性大法官）
诗人埃德加·艾伦坡也曾有一首著名的描述母亲的诗：
Because I feel that, in the Heavens above
因为我感觉到，在天上
The angels, whispering to one another
天使们彼此耳语
Can find, among their burning terms of love
在他们炽热的爱中
None so devotional as that of ‘Mother’
没有比“母亲”更诚虔的了
—— Edgar Allen Poe
埃德加·爱伦·坡（19世纪美国诗人）
林肯、毕加索、雨果、乔布斯……各个国家和年代的人都留下了感激母亲的语录。
All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
我之为我，或我所希冀，都归功于我天使般的母亲。
—— Abraham Lincoln 亚伯拉罕·林肯（美国第16任总统）
My mother said to me, 'If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.' Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.
我母亲对我说：“如果你是士兵，你将成为将军。如果你是僧侣，你就会成为教皇。” 后来我当了画手，然后成了毕加索。
—— Pablo Picasso 巴勃罗·毕加索
A mother's arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.
母亲的双臂是温柔的，孩子们在其中酣睡。
—— Victor Hugo 维克多·雨果 （法国文学家）
My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
我的生母发现我母亲大学没毕业，我父亲高中没毕业，所以她拒绝签署最终收养文件。几个月后，我的父母承诺有一天会让我上大学，她才签了。
—— Steve Jobs 史蒂夫·乔布斯（苹果联合创始人）
今天你想对妈妈说什么呢？在下方留言吧。
祝妈妈们节日快乐！
编辑：陈月华 李金昳
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