New-York tribune., 1901-01-13
THE PARENTAL NICKNAME.
VICIssITUDEs OF PAPA" AND MAMMA, -
DADDY" AND GOVERNOR" IN
ENGLAND.
From The London Globe.

] From The London Globe.
In our own country papa" and mamma
/ nave been in familiar use for some three hundred
years at least. They probably reached us from
| Italy, where their use was of much older date
Dante uses mama" in the ''Purgatorio" Words
! OF TINS kind are often in common and familiar
use long before they find their way into the
written language of books, that 1t would not
! be easy TO say when papa" and mamma" were
~ ~ 81 meaTa among us: but one of the earliest
IiterarE traces OF their use Is to be found in
Lylys "Euphues" 05T9). an Italian story
crammed with curious verbal absurdites for
the most part copied initiated from the Ital-
ian fashions and affectations Of the day. From
that time instances Of the use OF one or the
other Of the words, or Of both, are fairly COM
mon in literature.
Another familiar and childish variant is dad"
or daddy" Dad" or tad the earlier
form is. is pure Welsh word, and is OF great
antiquity The Lords Prayer begins in Welsh
with the words Elm Tad" or Elm Dad" the
first word OF the phrase meaning Our Dad
with its derivatives daddy" and dada" has
long been familiar in the mouths of English
children. Like papa" it doubtless in
many years before literature took note of il:
still, 1t is found more than two centuries ago
in burlesquo poem attacking James II. The
."ggerol C-.ntai1s both dad" and dada" Dry
den, too. in a translation Of the twenty-seventh
Idyll Of Theocritus has the line
But Nam and Dad are pretty names to hear
There are curious differences in the present
Gay pronunciation OF both dada" and papa"
In the country and country town districts, for
instance. of Northeast Ireland children of the
with the accent on the second syllable. This is
true also Of some of the eastern Irish counties,
Kilkenny and others and the same pronuncia-
ton is common in South Lancashire and South
Wales, and in Durham. Papa, again. becomes
''pappa' in Cheshire, where mamma is also
accented the first syllable. If go 10 the
United States variations in the pronunciation of
papa" may be found in almost every State.
Perhaps the commOnest forms "popa" and
'momma" In Indiana. the 'Hoosier' State, the
most familiar IS the very absurd 'popsy." The
maternal correlative, however. is not ''mopsy"
Z
lowed matter Of course.
The social vicissitudes Of papa" and man
ma" among ourselves have been curious.
Their use was formerly entirely restricted to the
upper classes; but they gradually filtered down
years ago, had probably never heard the words.
or. at all events had never dreamed OF using
them. taught their children to say 'pappa" and
mamma" as being more "genteel" than father
and mother. or daddy and nanny. When the
change was effected, the upper classes reverted
TO father and mother, and left their imitators to
the enjoyment of the ancient baby words.
George III. hundred and forty years ago ad-
dressed his mother as ma NINA but royalty
does not affect that mode Of speech to-day.
Children of larger growth have other equiva-
tents for father and mother. Boys who think
that they too big to the tender sound
ing names which were familiar to their infancy
talk of the "pater" and the mater" Gov
ernor' is another colloquial variant which has
little to recommend il. Sam Weller addressed
his father by that name. but Sam had quite
varied selection or epithets for his reVered
parent He addresses him as 'od fellow" and
"old codger," and announces him to Mr.. Pick
wick the 'old 'un." When the old gentleman,
muffied in ample shawls. makes his appearance,
Sam is taken by surprise. "Why. l wouldn't
ha' believed it. sir" he cries. IT'S the old un.
"Old one" said Mr.. Pickwick. What old one?"
My father sir" replied Mr.. Weller How
you my ancient?" With which beautiful ebull-
ton Of flial affection Mr.. Weller made room
the seat beside him for the stout man. who ad-
vanced, pipe i'm mouth and pot in hand to greet
him.
4 few shades worse than governor is re
lieving officer''-a phrase affected by who
look upon their fathers chiefly as the source OF
financial supply. There other similar ep-
thets in use, but they neither attractive
dignifed. When DADDY and nanny papa
and mamma put aside too childish or
are discarded for any other reason there are
no parental names which can for moment
compare with the simple. but dignhed. plain
but beautiful Anglo-Saxon words father and
mat