<p>The reason is due largely to the sensational logic that existed in the ancient matriarchal society, in which motherhood was highly regarded with the belief that &quot;the mother is the primary source responsible for the reproduction of newborns&quot;, which is similar to the fact that letters and sounds are formed/produced (given birth) from the primary source - 字母, 声母, and 韵母 respectively.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T18:47:02.267Z
在梵语中就是这个意思。汉语中字母这个词是守温从梵语引入的。
PdotWang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T15:53:13.063Z
2024-05-31T16:12:48.513Z
2024-05-31T16:12:48.513Z
r13
<blockquote>
<p>Any idea why this is? Is there some symbolic reasoning behind it?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, any psychologist will tell you: it's always the mother's fault!</p>
<p>字母: today means alphabet (and, strangely, letter of the alphabet)</p>
<p>母: 事物据以产生出来的<br />
mother: A mother is something which (other things) depend on in the course of their production.</p>
<p>母: 有产生出其他事物的能力或作用的：<br />
mother: (Something) which has the ability to produce other things, or is used to produce other things.</p>
<p>工作母机。<br />
machine tool  (used to produce other tools)<br />
失败乃成功之母。<br />
failure is the mother of success</p>
<p>My biology is not good, but, apart from the Virgin Birth of Jesus, a Catholic dogma, most things also need a father!</p>
<p>Although, come to think of it, the binary fission of bacteria is asexual.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T08:57:38.903Z
2024-05-31T08:57:38.903Z
Pedroski
<p>The word for &quot;alphabet&quot; or &quot;letter&quot; as in a letter of the alphabet is, &quot;字母 (zìmǔ)&quot;, the word for the initial of a Chinese syllable (always a consonant) is 声母 (shēngmǔ), the word for the final of a Chinese syllable is 韵母 (yùnmǔ) all pertain to writing and in a sense linguistics as a whole and they all contain the word for &quot;mother&quot;: 母 (mǔ).</p>
<p>Any idea why this is? Is there some symbolic reasoning behind it?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T01:01:00.063Z
I believe it means “origin”. Think *motherland* in English. Maybe you can confirm this with a good monolingual dictionary entry, hmm…
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T02:29:38.980Z
Please see: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/55240/what-%e5%ad%97%e6%af%8d-mean-in-chinese-not-alphabet-in-english-why-is-it-called-character
PdotWang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T02:58:29.740Z
Probably because 母 indicates the "mother", or "main" thing, of whatever part of words it is talking about. (e.g. literal meaning of 字母 is "mother letter", 声母 is "mother sound", 韵母 is "mother rhyme") Similar to how "mother" is used in English words to indicate the main part of something (e.g. motherboard, motherboard)
prismcool
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T03:14:00.867Z
字母是一个汉字。古代语言学者用它来代表一组汉字，他们都有同样的辅音，即声母。好像是一个母鸡带领一群小鸡。
PdotWang
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-31T11:58:50.673Z
「字母」的「母」是对梵语 मातृका mātṛkā 的意译。mātṛkā 对应梵语中的元音。 https://www.zhihu.com/question/49474716/answer/671460221
PdotWang
<characters><etymology><word><writing><linguistics>
Why do some terms related to writing or linguistics in general contain the word/character for "mother"?
# Why do some terms related to writing or linguistics in general contain the word/character for "mother"?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-05-31)

The word for "alphabet" or "letter" as in a letter of the alphabet is, "字母 (zìmǔ)", the word for the initial of a Chinese syllable (always a consonant) is 声母 (shēngmǔ), the word for the final of a Chinese syllable is 韵母 (yùnmǔ) all pertain to writing and in a sense linguistics as a whole and they all contain the word for "mother": 母 (mǔ).

Any idea why this is? Is there some symbolic reasoning behind it?

**Tags:** characters, etymology, word, writing, linguistics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I believe it means “origin”. Think *motherland* in English. Maybe you can confirm this with a good monolingual dictionary entry, hmm…  
> **username_2**: Please see: https://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/55240/what-%e5%ad%97%e6%af%8d-mean-in-chinese-not-alphabet-in-english-why-is-it-called-character  
> **username_3**: Probably because 母 indicates the "mother", or "main" thing, of whatever part of words it is talking about. (e.g. literal meaning of 字母 is "mother letter", 声母 is "mother sound", 韵母 is "mother rhyme") Similar to how "mother" is used in English words to indicate the main part of something (e.g. motherboard, motherboard)  
> **username_2**: 字母是一个汉字。古代语言学者用它来代表一组汉字，他们都有同样的辅音，即声母。好像是一个母鸡带领一群小鸡。  
> **username_2**: 「字母」的「母」是对梵语 मातृका mātṛkā 的意译。mātṛkā 对应梵语中的元音。 https://www.zhihu.com/question/49474716/answer/671460221  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2024-05-31. Score: 3

The reason is due largely to the sensational logic that existed in the ancient matriarchal society, in which motherhood was highly regarded with the belief that "the mother is the primary source responsible for the reproduction of newborns", which is similar to the fact that letters and sounds are formed/produced (given birth) from the primary source - 字母, 声母, and 韵母 respectively.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: 在梵语中就是这个意思。汉语中字母这个词是守温从梵语引入的。  

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### Answer by username_5 on 2024-05-31. Score: 0

> Any idea why this is? Is there some symbolic reasoning behind it?

Yes, any psychologist will tell you: it's always the mother's fault!

字母: today means alphabet (and, strangely, letter of the alphabet)

母: 事物据以产生出来的  
mother: A mother is something which (other things) depend on in the course of their production.

母: 有产生出其他事物的能力或作用的：  
mother: (Something) which has the ability to produce other things, or is used to produce other things.

工作母机。  
machine tool (used to produce other tools)  
失败乃成功之母。  
failure is the mother of success

My biology is not good, but, apart from the Virgin Birth of Jesus, a Catholic dogma, most things also need a father!

Although, come to think of it, the binary fission of bacteria is asexual.


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