#1: Metropolis
Nowadays, it refers to a large city —
particularly an important one.
In ancient Greece,metropolis referred to the mother city of a
colony.
(Corinth, for example, was the metropolis
of Syracuse.)
Metropolis comes from the Greek mētēr ("mother") +polis ("city").
#2: Matrix
Is matrix the mother of all terms?
Maybe not, but the term originates in the Latinmater, meaning
"mother."
The original (now-archaic) meaning of matrix was "uterus." Today the word
usually refers to a situation or set of conditions
in which something develops or forms.
#3: Amateur
An amateur pursues an activity for love,
not money.
Amateur has an ancestor in the Latin amare,
meaning "to love."
Although the relationship isn't certain, amare is probably related to a term meaning "mother": amma.
In the Germanic language spoken before the 12th century,
amma meant "mother" or
"nurse."
#4: Alma Mater
A good school nurtures its students; the
term alma mater ("fostering mother" in
Latin)
is
rooted in that nurturing.
Alma mater refers either to a school one attended, or
to that school's song.
The ancients used alma mater as a title for such goddesses as
Ceres,
the
Roman goddess of the growth of food plants, and Cybele, who was worshipped
as
the universal mother of gods, humans, and animals.
#5: Marigold
The mari in this word recognizes a perennially
honored mother: Mary, the mother of Jesus.
Gold describes the bright hue of the marigold's flowers.
#6: Matrimony
Matrimony joins two people, but that pairing is
rooted in one word:mother.
Matrimony comes frommater, Latin for "mother." This
reflects the traditional
role of marriage in legalizing motherhood
– allowing women to produce legitimate
children and heirs. (Worried that men
aren't getting a fair shake? Marital comes
from maritus, Latin for both
"married" and "husband.")
#7: Argiope
You may have seen one of these in your garden.
This impressive-looking spider has the genus (and
common) name Argiope.
According to mythology, Argiopē was a nymph (i.e. a
minor female divinity
associated with the natural world) and
mother of a celebrated bard.
Spin out the tale a bit further, and you learn that
spiders such as the Argiope
have been known to trap nymphs – sexually
immature insects – in their webs.
#8: Nun
Typically, of course, a nunis
not a mother.
The linguistic background of the word nun,
however, is fertile when it comes to children.
Its Late Latin ancestornonna named
a child's nurse. Nonna came from baby talk.
So
did the Greeknanna ("female relative" or
"aunt"), the Sanskrit nanā ("mother"), the Welsh nain("grandmother"),
and the Albanian nanë ("mother").
#9: Cassiope
Here we have another flower reference,
which seems appropriate for Mother's Day.
Cassiope, a shrub with nodding white or pink flowers,
is found in cold climates.
These plants are named for Cassiopeia, the
mythical queen of Ethiopia – whose
motherly pride in her daughter, and herself,
happened to get her in trouble.
Cassiopeia angered the sea god, Poseidon, by claiming
that she and her daughter,
Andromeda, were more beautiful than the
sea-nymphs. As punishment,
Poseidon placed her – upside-down, no less
– high in the sky near the north pole,
where the constellation Cassiopeia bears
her name.
#10: Matter
The fact of the matter is this: the Latin
word for "mother," mater, is this word's
distant ancestor. Mater was
shaped intomateria,
meaning "physical substance" or "matter."Materia eventually developed into matter.
Why did mother lead tomatter?
The
connection is uncertain, but perhaps it's because matter is the substance
from which something is made; and it is mother from which we all are made.