Would like to discuss about such words.
In many cases the correct word may be different in different languages but the word used in speaking may sound similar.
Best example would be "Mother"
coomon words used in many languages
"Ma", "Amma" ( in mny mother toungue- Malayalam), Mom, Madre ( Spanish) all looks similar.
I would like to discuss how such similarities come in, may be with more examples.

The similarity of words for mother in languages not usually thought of as historically closely related, such as Malayalm (and other Dravidian languages, Tamil, Kannada, Telegu) and Indo-European languages (such as English, Latin, Sanskrit, Russian, etc.), is that there is something about labiality sounds such as m, p, and b are bilabials) and suckling. (Please note that I am not advocating this position, just reporting it.) An exception in Hindi is maamaa 'maternal uncle'.

An important and, to my mind, true quality of languages in general is the arbitrary nature of the relationship between a word and the concept underlying it (or if you will, the thing to which it refers). Saussure was the first to state this.

An important and, to my mind, true quality of languages in general is the arbitrary nature of the relationship between a word and the concept underlying it
Agreed, for the vast majority of cases. Since many word roots can be traced very far back, this historical aspect often tends to veil the essential arbitrariness. Persistence of a tradition appears as connection to the "thing itself".

Ding an sich!

Thanks, Herr Weissbier, for the reminder of this oh-so-useful term and your kindness in posting it in English.

noumenon

-joe (thingy) friday

or it just could be, as babies babble their first sounds tend to be ma, ma ma, , and da, da, da, (and ba, ba, ba,)

and words with theses sounds became associalted with parents, baby, breast.

eventually kids learn to actually say words, (and their first words are usually titles/names for caretakers, themselves, and food, and sources of pleasure, (unless they are unusual!)

Check out this pdf on mama and papa words across many languages or this page on cross language coincidences in general.

Thanks for that post. Actually though i was not sure I was thinking about a possible ancestral language. But After reading that article, it seems to be less logical and "babbling" looks to be a better explanation.

Thanks, neff. A rather goodly rundown on the sitch. I'll ensconce that link amongst my faves.

Nice list! this page