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Mamma
mamma Latin, breast
Mamma is the formal medical word for breast. Mamma is a reduplication of the much older Proto-Indo-European root *ma, breast or mother. This is not only the first sound uttered by many human infants, it may also be the most widespread word root in the world. It forms the basis of the word for mother in many different and unrelated language families around the world :
Latin mater
Greek meter
French mère
German Mutter
Russian mate
Icelandic modher
Sanskrit mata
Irish mathair
Welsh mam
Arabic oum
Hebrew em
Swahili mama
Chinese ma
Hawaian makuahine (maka first, beloved < *ma-k Proto-Polynesian, the mother (?) + wahine female, woman)
Why so widespread a word? The sounds of m and a are among the easiest to make and among the first sounds acquired by a human infant. The first noise in life associated with deep pleasure may be the sound made by the infant's mouth sucking milk from the mother's breast. This sound is frequently some variant of ma-ma. The smacking movement of the lips made in uttering an m-sound is similar to the movement required to suck a nipple.
The distinguishing feature responsible for the name Mammalia,the zoological class of animals to which humans belong, is the possession of breasts that secrete milk to feed the young.
The mammary glands are found in the breasts. The glands are made up of fatty tissue in which lobular alveoli secrete milk and then ducts permit passage of milk to the exterior by way of the nipple.
mamma breast + gram something written or recorded, like an x-ray
A mammogram is an x-ray film record of the soft tissues of the breast. Periodic mammography is useful in the early detection of breast cancer and benign tumours. Mammothermography (thermos Greek, heat) uses infrared sensors to detect temperature differences in breast tissue which can indicate the presence of malignant tumours.
mamma breast + plastia New Scientific Greek, a shaping, a forming, with the later implication of 'forming by means of surgery,' hence plastic surgery < plastikos Greek, molding, forming < plassein Greek, to mold, to form
Mammoplasty may be cosmetic surgery to improve the lift or size of breasts or to reconstruct breasts reduced by surgery to remove cancerous tissue. Reductive mammoplasty is that performed to make large breasts smaller.
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