mater
母
解説 Definition
mater はラテン語で「母」を意味する名詞です。英語では単独の日常語としてはほとんど使われず、学術的な文脈やラテン語由来の表現の中で見られます。
Mater is the Latin word for “mother,” occasionally retained in English within learned discussion, quotations, names, and Latin-derived expressions. It is not normally used as an everyday substitute for the English word mother.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
ラテン語で「母」を表す語で、英語の日常会話の mother の代わりには通常使わない。maternal「母の」、maternity「母性・産科」と同じ mater- を見つければ意味を復元できる。alma mater「母校」やラテン語の説明・碑文など、学術的・定型的な場面と結び付けよう。
Connect mater with familiar English words such as maternal and maternity: their mater- element carries the idea of “mother.” This makes the meaning recoverable without treating mater as ordinary conversational English. Picture a Latin lesson saying, “In Latin, mater means mother,” or the fixed expression alma mater for a school or university formerly attended. In daily speech, choose mother, not mater. The contrast between the productive Latin base in learned vocabulary and the normal English family word is the key to remembering its restricted use.
例文
In Latin, mater means mother.
ラテン語で mater は母を意味する。
The word maternal comes from the Latin mater.
maternal という語はラテン語の mater に由来する。
The old inscription uses mater to refer to a mother.
その古い碑文では母を指すために mater が使われている。
mater の類義語・関連語
mater の語源・成り立ち Etymology
英語の mater は「母」を表すラテン語 māter からの借用で、さらに印欧祖語 *mater- にさかのぼります。語幹 ma- に親族語尾 -ter をもつ古い形で、maternal や maternity と同根なので、「母」という最も基本的な家族語がそのまま残った語だと理解できます。
English mater is a direct borrowing of Latin māter, “mother.” The Latin noun continues an ancient Indo-European kinship term conventionally reconstructed as a form like *méh₂tēr. Related inherited or borrowed words include English mother, maternal, and maternity. The element is especially visible in scholarly vocabulary and Latin expressions such as alma mater. Because it entered English from Latin in restricted contexts, mater did not replace mother as the ordinary English word for a female parent.
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