Origin of US "mom" - Wordsmith.org

Does anyone know the answer to this?

Did the US always use Mom and Mommy for Mother?
If not when did it change from Mum and Mummy?

I have a early 70's imprint of Heinlein's The Star Beast (originally written in 1954) and that has the word Mum not Mom. Is this an "english" version???? I don't think so as the audio book I have also uses Mum non Mom.

Russ

Be careful in extrapolating usages from science fiction books. They are often intended to be out of the ordinary.

Welcome Russ.
We 'Mericans just tend to be contray to our British cousins' use of words. We do honor not honour, color not colour.
Could just be an Americanism. ??

According http://www.etymonline.com:
"In terms of recorded usage in Eng., mum is from 1823, mummy 1839, momma 1884, mom 1894, and mommy 1902."
All after the Revolution.

Originally Posted By: Myridon

According http://www.etymonline.com:
"In terms of recorded usage in Eng., mum is from 1823,

Not according to the OED, which has a 1595 citation, nearly 200 years before the US War of Independence.

Quote:

?1595 in N. & Q. (1994) Dec. 454/2 Poore little Moll, poore helples needy mum A fathers & a husbandes hart doth grone In diepe conceipt of your distressed mone. 1653 M. WHITELOCKE Let. 25 Nov. in R. Spalding Contemp. B. Whitelocke (1990) 442 Samm..sayes dad is gon in the boate to fawly Court[.] H[e]..sees me soe malencholly, he says he will have a new Mum. 1781 J. MOORE Let. 12 June (Hampshire Rec. Office: IM44/147/6) 3 [I] conclude by assuring you I remain as usual Your Ever Affectionate Mum.

Etymonline is not the most reliable source.

So you can bother to use the OED to refute etymonline, but not do the one more look up to answer the original post's question? (^_^)

I can personally vouch that it has been spelled Mom but pronounced mum in Canada for several decades.

Originally Posted By: Myridon

So you can bother to use the OED to refute etymonline, but not do the one more look up to answer the original post's question? (^_^)

Actually I did, at the same time. It agrees with etymonline on 1894 as the first written record of "mom".

Originally Posted By: Zed

I can personally vouch that it has been spelled Mom but pronounced mum in Canada for several decades.

Well, except for Qu�bec where it is pronounced Maman.

bien sur

Thanks for the responses everyone. So except for the Canadians, it seems to have come in to use sometime around the late 1800's then.

Russ

May have been here in the 1800's but that's not in my personal experience.

May have been here in the 1800's but that's not in my personal experience. You mean, you don't remember from back then? (hee hee hee!)

Not that I'm going to admit.