Motherland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Motherland (disambiguation).
Motherland is a term that may refer to a mother country, i.e. a Metropole in contrast to its colonies, or the origin of an ethnic group or immigrant. This usage is sometimes seen also in English, maybe more often in the social sciences.
Motherland is otherwise a synonym for fatherland, though perhaps carrying different psychological associations. It especially has the connotation of one's country of birth and growing up, with the country being respectfully viewed as a benign mother nurturing its citizens as her children.
The term "Motherland" is very often labelled to Russia, and many Russians and various Slavs around the world refer to that country as such, even if they do not harbor their ancestry directly from that country.
In Spanish-speaking countries Madre Patria can refer to the country of oneself or be understood as a reference to Spain.
- See also: Mother tongue
In other languages:
- Amharic: እናት ሀገር (Ənat hagär)
- Arabic: وطن (whaṭan)
- Bulgarian: родина (rodina). Oтечество (otechestvo), meaning fatherland, is also used.
- Chinese: 祖国 (pinyin: zuguo), which literally means "land of our ancestors" and not necessarily "motherland" nor "fatherland"
- Czech: Vlast
- Danish: Moderland
- Dutch: Moederland
- French: Mère patrie (slightly contradictory, since "patrie" means "fatherland")
- German: Mutterland
- Greek: Μητέρα-πατρίδα(Mitera-patrida) or, colloquially, Μαμά-πατρίδα (Mama-patrida)
- Hindi, Marathi and Sanskrit: mātribhūmi (devanagari: मातृभूमि)
- Hungarian: Anyaföld
- Indonesian : Ibu Pertiwi or Tanah Air
- Japanese: 母国 bokoku (However, this word feels like something of a transliteration of the Western concept of "motherland" into Chinese characters; the word 祖国 sokoku, "land of the founder(s) of one's clan or dynasty" or more generally "land of one's ancestors," is more traditional)
- Korean: 모국 moguk
- Malaysian : Ibu Petiwi or Tanah Air
- Polish: Macierz
- Portuguese: Mãe-Pátria, or simply Pátria
- Romanian: Patria Mamă
- Russian: Родина (Rodina), also Родина-мать
- Spanish: Madre Patria
- Turkish: Anavatan
- Filipino: Inang Bayan
- Italian: Madre Patria
- Malayalam: മാതൃഭൂമി (Mathrubhoomi)
- Tamil: Thainadu (literally, 'mother country') or Thaimannu (literally, 'mother soil')
- Urdu: Madarizameen (literally, 'mother soil')
- The equivalent Hebrew word "Moledet" (מולדת) does not directly include the word "mother" but does have a female form and carries many of the connotations of "motherland" in other langugues.
