Amah

Amah may refer to:

Amah (occupation)

An amah or ayah (simplified Chinese: 阿嬷; traditional Chinese: 阿嬤; pinyin: ā mā, Portuguese: ama, German: Amme, Medieval Latin: amma; or ayah Hindi: āyā or amma, Portuguese: aia, Latin: avia, Tagalog: yaya) is a girl or woman employed by a family to clean, look after children, and perform other domestic tasks.

Role

It is a domestic servant role which combines functions of maid and nanny. The term, resembling the pronunciation for "mother", is considered polite and respectful in the Chinese language when it is used to refer to a maid. They may often be required by employers to wear a uniform.

Etymology

The word amah may have originated from the Portuguese ama meaning "nurse". Some however argued that it is the anglicized form of the Chinese word ah mah (ah is a common Chinese prefix, and mah means "little mother"), while others say that it originated as nai mah (wet nurse in Chinese, literally "milk mother"). This word is common in East Asia, South East Asia and India to denote a maidservant or nursemaid. In India, ayah is the more common variant, and this Anglo-Indian word originated from the Portuguese aia meaning "nurse", feminine form of aio meaning "tutor".

Amah (mother)

Amah is a term for "mother" in several different languages and contexts.

Amah is the Mosuo term for mother. In Mosuo, the word ammah or anmah means "mother", and ayah has an identical meaning in the Okinawan dialect.

Another similar word is ima (אמא, pronounced /ˈimä/), the Hebrew word for "mother".

In Chinese, amah ("grandmother") is often used as an equivalent of the English word "nanny"—the term does not refer to a wet nurse or a servant, but rather, like a nanny, a "friend" who helps a family to raise a child. This is a common profession in China.

During the T'ang dynasty in China, the word Amah was used as an informal and poetic title for the Taoist goddess Queen Mother of the West.

References

See also