The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-02-23
NTCKNAMEs FOR PARENTS.
Some of ChiId,oOd's EGuivuIeIIts f0
the Words Fafbar .,yI vFo{F,nv

Some of ChiIdhood's Equivalents for
the Words Father and Mother.
In our own country papa" and mani
ma" have been in familiar use for some
200 years at least They probably
reached us from Italy,, where their use
was of much older date. Dante uses
mamma il the "Purgatorio." Words
Of this kind are often in common and
familiar use long before they find their
way into the written language Of books,
50 that it would not be easy to say when
papaf and mamma We're first heard
among MS but one Of the earliest literary
traces of their use is to be found IN
Lyly's ''Euphues'' Q37O an Italian story
cramn1ed with curious verbal absurdities
for the most part copied or initiated from
the italian fashions and affections of the
day. From that time instances of the
! use of one or the other Of the words OF
Of both, are fairly common
Another familiar and childish variant is,
dag or ''daddy.''' Dad or tad as
the earlier form is, is a 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 L Gaming Our" Dad
with its derivaties daddy" and 'dada,'
has long been familiar in the mouths Of
English children Like zap" it vas
doubtless in use many years before liter
allure took note of it; still it is found
more than two centuries ago in bur
lesque poem attacking James H. The
| doggerel contains both dad and dada"
Dryden. too, in a translation Of the TWEEN.
ty-seventh .dyl of Theocritus has the
line 5$ $50 n
But nam and dad pretty names to hear
There are curious differences in the
present day pronunciation of both dada
and papa In the country and coun-
try towns districts, for instance. of
Northeast Ireland children of the poorer
and less educated classes all say dada
with the accent on the second syllable.
This is true also or some OF the eastern
IRISH counties Kilkenny and others. and
me, same pronunciation is common In
South Lancaster and South Wales and in
Durham. Papa, again. becomes papa
in Cheshire, where mamma, IS also
| accented OIL the first syllable II we 20
to the United States. variations in the
pronunciation OF papa may be found
in almost every state. Perhap5 the com
nonest forms are '.popa" and 'moma''
In Indiana, the .'Hoosier'' State, the most
familiar is the very absurd .popsy.'' The
! maternal correlative, however, is not
s'mopsy,' though it is hard to say why
this has not followed as a matter Of
+ course
The social vicissitudes of papa" and
mamma" among ourselves have been
curious. Their use was formerly entire
" restricted to the upper classes; but
they gradually filtered down until the
| people of a class which, sixty or seventy
, years ago, had probably never heard the
| words, or, at all events, had never
dreamed Of using them, taught their chill
dren to say papa" and mamma as be-
| ing more .genteel' than father and
mother or daddy and nanny When the
| change was effected the upper classes re-
lsyerted to father and mother and left
| their in1itators to the enjoyment OF the
ancient baby words. George Ill, hund-
red and forty years ago. addressed his
i mother as mamma" but royalty does
not affect that mode of speech to-day.
Children of larger growth have other
equivalents for father AND mother Boys
who think that they are too big to use
the tender sounding names which we're
familiar to their infancy talk of the pa
ter, and the mater. Govern pr is
anotae. eolIeGuial variant which has little
u recon- rnend IT.
san We We addressed his father w
that aanne,s but Sam nad quite u varied
selection of epithets for his reyered
parent. He addresses him as ,.old fell
low and 'told codger, and announces
him to Mr.. Pick9ick as the ..oid 'un.,,
J When the old gentleman, nufllea In am
pie shawls. makes his appearance Sam
is taken by surprise ..Why, i wouIdn,t
ha' believed it, sir he cries ITS the
old un.' Old one said Mr. Pic..sviics.
What old one % my father. SIR re-.
piled Mr.. Weller. How are you, my am
Gent e. With which beautiful, ssullftion
IT fi1ial affection Mr.. Weller made room
{ On the seat beside him for the stout
Esatis go . ~ r.s~