An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Mutter
Mutter, feminine, ‘mother,’ from Middle High German muoter, Old High German muotar, feminine; compare Old Saxon môdar, Dutch moeder, Anglo-Saxon môddôr, môdor; English mother (with th when followed by er, as in father, weather); Old Icelandic môðer. The common Teutonic word for ‘mother,’ wanting only in Gothic, in which aiþei (compare Eidam) was the current term, just as atta was used for ‘father’ instead of fadar. Teutonic môdar, ‘mother,’ from pre-Teutonic mâtêr, is, like many other terms denoting degrees of relationship, common also to the Aryan languages; compare Indian mâtṛ, Greek μήτηρ, μάτηρ, Latin mâter, Old Slovenian mati, Old Irish máthir (Lithuanian môtė, ‘married woman’). It is allied to Muhme and its cognates, as well as to Greek μαῖα, ‘good mother’ (as a kindly address). Whether these words are based on an Aryan root mâ, meaning ‘to mete out’ (Mutter, ‘apportioner, distributor’?), or in its Old Indian sense, ‘to form’ (of the embryo in the womb), is uncertain. —