maternal
Part of speech: adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
Etymology: PIE word
 *méh₂tēr
The adjective is derived from Late Middle English maternal, maternall, from Middle French maternel (“maternal”) (modern French maternel (“maternal; native”)), or from its etymon Late Latin māternālis (“maternal”), from Latin māternus (“maternal; related to the mother or her side of the family”) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Māternus is derived from māter (“mother”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr (“mother”)) + -rnus (suffix forming adjectives). The English word is cognate with Italian maternale, materno, Portuguese maternal, materno, Spanish maternal, materno.
The noun is derived from the adjective.
Inflected forms:
form: more maternal
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most maternal
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: maternall
pos: adj
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: Of or pertaining to a mother; having the characteristics of a mother; motherly.
pos: adj
examples: His weakness seemed to bring out her maternal instincts.
However, the Hebrew (I ſay) is the moſt antient and maternall Language; for Adam uſed it, and all men before the Flood, as is manifeſt from the Scripture, and Fathers.
If a dictionary be a ſelection, rather than a collection, of the words in our maternall Englyſhe; a dictionary cannot afford a deciſive proof of the non-exiſtence of a word, in ſome other book, which the lexicographer may have never read.
The little blooming foundling was ſoon ordered to be produced before her, which brought the ſympathy of the mother to her eye, and to her heart. The infant had once, at leaſt, a maternal embrace; [...]. With a truly maternal care the child was placed with wife of one of the domeſticks of the Princeſs, provided with plain neceſſaries, and watched with the eye of humanity and tenderneſs.
Thus lonely left, no soft maternal breast / His murmurs soothed, or cradled him to rest; / Moist with delight, no maternal eye / Watched his weak limbs their early efforts try, [...]
Naïve parturient females [i.e., those that have never encountered young animals except for their own litter-mates], unlike most other naïve animals, display immediate maternal behavior as soon as they give birth, except for some rare infanticidal or indifferent mothers. […] This difference between the behavior of naïve mothers and naïve animals other than mothers suggests that gestation and parturition favor a very rapid establishment of maternal behavior.
Maternal smoking during pregnancy is one of the modifiable environmental factors that adversely affects the unborn child. [...] Many studies support the view that maternal smoking retards fetal growth: infants of smokers tend to be 150–325 g lighter at birth than those born to non-smokers.
In potato, crosses between the tetraploid cultivated species Solanum tuberosum, and some clones of the diploid wild-type species S. phureja, constitute a method of producing maternal dihaploids.
Maternal desire is at once obvious and invisible partly because it is so easily confused with other things. Those fighting for women's progress too often misconstrue it as a throwback or excuse, a self-curtailment of potential. Those who champion women's maternal role too often define it narrowly in the context of service—to one's child, husband, or God.
gloss: Related through the mother, or her side of the family.
pos: adj
examples: Toby is my maternal uncle.
Doctor [Alexander] MacWhorter was of Scotch extraction. His maternal ancestors were among the first emigrants from Scotland to the North of Ireland; and the family of his father removed to the same country about the time of his father's birth.
It was so in the England of Alfred's day; the maternal kinsfolk paid a third of the wer [i.e., the wergeld]. The Leges Henrici, which about such a matter will not be inventing new rules, tell us that the paternal kinsfolk pay and receive two-thirds, the maternal kinsfolk one-third of the wer; and this is borne out by other evidence.
While the attribution to the elder children of the given names of paternal grandparents was generally respected, alternation between paternal and maternal lines was not the rule. The father is more apt to have recourse to relatively distant paternal kin or to his own maternal kin than to his own affines. The paternal given names easily supplant the maternal ones.
gloss: Derived from the mother as opposed to the foetus during pregnancy.
pos: adj
examples: The facts which have now been stated warrant, I think, the conclusion, that the human placenta does not consist of two parts, maternal and fœtal, that no cells exist in its substance, and that there is no communication between the uterus and the placenta by large arteries and veins.
Undernutrition occurs when dietary intake cannot meet nutritional requirements. The synthesis of maternal and fetal tissue or breast milk, and the associated costs of maternal maintenance increase nutrient requirements during pregnancy and lactation.
Chorionic villus samples typically contain a mixture of placental villi and maternally derived decidua. Although specimens are thoroughly washed and inspected under a microscope after collection, some maternal cells may remain and grow in the culture. As a result, two cell lines, one fetal and the other maternal, may be identified. In other cases, the maternal cell line may completely overgrow the culture, thereby leading to diagnostic errors, including incorrect sex determination, and potentially to false-negative diagnoses, although there are no published reports of the latter.
While the animal–vegetal axis is patterned exclusively by maternal factors, the later developing dorsal–ventral axis depends on formation of the animal–vegetal axis and requires both maternal and zygotic contributions in zebrafish and frogs.
Related words: maternity
Derived words: allomaternal
antimaternal
bimaternal
direct maternal death
feto-maternal
fetomaternal
foetomaternal
grandmaternal
indirect maternal death
maternal aunt
maternal cousin
maternal custody
maternal death
maternal effect
maternal grandchild
maternal grandfather
maternal grandmother
maternal half aunt
maternal half-uncle
maternal impression
maternalisation
maternalism
maternalist
maternalistic
maternalization
maternalize
maternally
maternalness
maternal orphan
maternal uncle
maternal wall
nonmaternal
prematernal
transmaternal
ultramaternal
unmaternal
Translations: