When did people start calling their mothers and fathers mum and dad ? how did it start ?

Question

i was lying in bed and just thought, how did those names come about ?

im just curious :) thanks for any help !

Answer 1

Way, way long ago. The syllables "ma" and "da" are from Indoeuropean, which was around 1900 years ago up until about the time of the end of the Roman Empire (around 200 AD).

Answer 2

probably the other way around - language used to be simpler and became more complex. Like they say the word mama (mum in a lot of languages) comes from the sound a baby makes when it wants to suckle...

hope that makes sense