baba

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Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 1.2.1 Related terms 1.2.2 Translations 2 Afrikaans 2.1 Noun 3 Albanian 3.1 Noun 4 Bosnian 4.1 Noun 4.1.1 Declension 4.1.2 Synonyms 5 Crimean Tatar 5.1 Noun 5.1.1 Declension 6 Croatian 6.1 Noun 6.1.1 Declension 7 Czech 7.1 Noun 8 Finnish 8.1 Pronunciation 8.2 Noun 8.2.1 Declension 9 French 9.1 Pronunciation 9.2 Noun 10 German 10.1 Etymology 10.2 Interjection 10.2.1 Usage notes 11 Hiligaynon 11.1 Noun 12 Hungarian 12.1 Pronunciation 12.2 Noun 12.2.1 Declension 12.2.2 Derived terms 13 Japanese 13.1 Noun 14 Mandarin 14.1 Pronunciation 14.2 Noun 14.3 See also 15 Polish 15.1 Pronunciation 15.2 Etymology 1 15.2.1 Noun 15.2.1.1 Declension 15.3 Etymology 2 15.3.1 Noun 15.3.1.1 Declension 16 Portuguese 16.1 Etymology 16.2 Pronunciation 16.3 Noun 16.3.1 See also 17 Romanian 17.1 Pronunciation 17.2 Noun 18 Serbian 18.1 Noun 18.1.1 Declension 19 Spanish 19.1 Etymology 19.2 Pronunciation 19.3 Noun 19.3.1 See also 20 Swahili 20.1 Noun 21 Tagalog 21.1 Adverb 21.2 Noun 21.3 Verb 22 Turkish 22.1 Etymology 22.2 Noun 22.2.1 Declension 22.2.1.1 Derived terms

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

As one of the first utterances many babies are able to say, baba (like mama, papa, and dada) has come to be used in many languages as a term for various family members:

• father: Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hindi, Bangla, Persian, Swahili, ...
• grandmother: many Slavic language (such as Bulgarian, Russian and Polish), Yiddish, Japanese, ...
• baby: Afrikaans, ...

These terms often continue to be used by English speakers whose families came from one of these cultures. In some cases, they may become more widely used in localities that have been heavily influenced by an immigrant community. Some senses were extensions of one of these family terms in the original languages ("old woman" from "grandmother", "holy man" from "father"). The "cake" sense comes through French from Polish baba (“‘old woman’”). The Middle Eastern word baba (as in Ali Baba) is rather a term of endearment, and is ultimately derived from Persian بابا (bābā), “‘father’”) (from Old Persian pāpa; as opposed to the Arabic words ابو (’ábu) and أب (’ab), as well as the Turkish word ata; see also Papak) , and is linguistically related to the common European word papa and the word pope, having the same Indo-European origin.

[edit] Noun

baba (plural babas)

1. A kind of sponge cake soaked in rum-flavoured syrup.
2. (esp. among people of East European ancestry) A grandmother.
   • 1993, Karen Dubinsky, Improper Advances: Rape and Heterosexual Conflict in Ontario, 1880-1929, University of Chicago Press

     My baba, Ksenia Dubinsky, tells me that my education makes her proud.

   • 2001, Brattleboro Remembers, edited by the Brattleboro [Vermont] Historical Society, Arcadia Publishing

     I walked first for my grandmother, and my mother was sorry she had missed my first steps. My Baba was so proud, my mother later told me.

   • 2004: A Woman's Europe: True Stories, edited by MaryBeth Bond

     As we made eye contact, I slowly began to wonder if she was Baba. I did not know my grandmother though I'd spoken with her several times on the telephone;

3. An old woman, especially a traditional old woman from an eastern European culture.
   • 1914, Russell Sage Foundation, Wage-earning Pittsburgh

     Only two women, typical "babas" (peasant women) in the house from which I got my quilt and bedcloth, could be coaxed to pose;

   • 1986, Janice Kulyk Keefer, The Paris-Napoli Express

     Laura hadn't known that anyone's mother could look like that, like the babas you sometimes saw downtown, bandaged in kerchiefs and aprons, sitting toothless in stockinged feet on small verandahs, peeling potatoes or beets or just shaking their heads and grimacing.

   • 2003, Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets, edited by Colin Michael Hall and Liz Sharples

     According to some, new volunteers are becoming more difficult to recruit and there are dark suggestions that 'money is being made on the backs of the babas', the dedicated, but ageing ladies who still spend countless hours of their time preparing foodstuffs for the occasion.

4. (esp. among people of Indian ancestry) A father.
   • 1849, Edward Bulwer Lytton, The Caxtons

     The first time I signed my exercise I wrote "Pisistratus Caxton" in my best round-hand. "And dey call your baba a scholar!" said the Doctor, contemptuously.

   • 1998, Mulan (movie)

     "The greatest gift and honor is having you for a daughter. I've missed you so." "I've missed you too, baba."

   • 2002, Bend It Like Beckham (movie)

     Okay. Okay. Fine, baba. Let's just do it before something else goes wrong.

   • 2003, House of Sand and Fog (movie)

     "Do not be disrespectful, son. Look at me." "Baba, were you a Savaki?"

5. (Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism) A holy man, a spiritual leader.
   • 1995, Hugh J.M. Johnston and Tara Singh Bains, The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh

     While I was in Port Alberni, three babas came to Canada to raise money ...

   • 2004, Andrew Robinson, Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Maker

     But according to Ray, 'all the babas my uncle knew were genuine. None of them was exposed. They were fairly humble people, not show-offs like the Maharishi ...

   • 2006, Suraiya Faroqhi, Subjects Of The Sultan: Culture And Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire

     Most babas had little contact with written culture and are not therefore named in books and treatises.

6. A baby, child.
   • 1876, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay

     That is to say, if I do not take care, I shall go on calling my darling 'Baba' till she is as old as her mamma, and has a dozen Babas of her own.

   • 1904, Rudyard Kipling, Traffics and Discoveries

     For my child is dead--my baba is dead!

7. In baby talk, often used for a variety of words beginning with b, such as bottle or blanket.
   • 2004, House (TV, episode 1.14)

     Oh, it's storytime! Let me get my baba.

[edit] Related terms

• baba au rhum
• rhumbaba, rum baba
• baba ganoush

[edit] Translations

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[edit] Afrikaans

[edit] Noun

baba (plural babas)

1. baby

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[edit] Albanian

[edit] Noun

baba

1. father

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[edit] Bosnian

[edit] Noun

baba f (plural babe)

1. grandmother
2. grandma
3. granny
4. old woman

[edit] Declension

[edit] Synonyms

• nena

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[edit] Crimean Tatar

[edit] Noun

baba

1. father
2. dad

[edit] Declension

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[edit] Croatian

[edit] Noun

baba f (plural babe)

1. grandmother
2. grandma
3. granny
4. old woman

[edit] Declension

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[edit] Czech

[edit] Noun

baba f.

1. A crone, a hag.
2. A coward, a milksop.

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[edit] Finnish

[edit] Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

[edit] Noun

baba

1. Baba, babka, a type of cake.

[edit] Declension

Declension of baba (type kala) singular plural nominative baba babat genitive baban babojen babain1 partitive babaa baboja accusative baba baban babat inessive babassa baboissa elative babasta baboista illative babaan baboihin adessive baballa baboilla ablative babalta baboilta allative baballe baboille essive babana baboina translative babaksi baboiksi instructive – baboin abessive babatta baboitta comitative – baboineen 1) Rare.

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[edit] French

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ba.ba/, SAMPA: /ba.ba/

[edit] Noun

baba m. (plural babas)

1. baba (type of cake)

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[edit] German

[edit] Etymology

A link of the term with the American bye-bye is possible but not certain.

[edit] Interjection

baba

1. (informal, chiefly in Austria) see you, so long

[edit] Usage notes

• In Austria, especially East Austria, baba is the most commonly used informal term for saying "goodbye".

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[edit] Hiligaynon

[edit] Noun

bába and bâbâ

1. mouth

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[edit] Hungarian

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbɒbɒ/
• Hyphenation: ba‧ba

[edit] Noun

baba (plural babák)

1. doll
2. baby (very young child)

[edit] Declension

declension of baba singular plural nominative baba babák accusative babát babákat dative babának babáknak instrumental babával babákkal causal-final babáért babákért translative babává babákká terminative babáig babákig essive-formal babaként babákként essive-modal - - inessive babában babákban superessive babán babákon adessive babánál babáknál illative babába babákba sublative babára babákra allative babához babákhoz elative babából babákból delative babáról babákról ablative babától babáktól

possessives of baba possessor singular possession plural possession 1st person sing. babám babáim 2nd person sing. babád babáid 3rd person sing. babája babái 1st person plural babánk babáink 2nd person plural babátok babáitok 3rd person plural babájuk babáik

[edit] Derived terms

• próbababa

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[edit] Japanese

[edit] Noun

baba (hiragana ばば)

1. 婆: old woman
2. ババ: (playing card)joker
3. 祖母: grandmother
4. 馬場: riding ground
5. 糞: excrement, feces
6. 屎: excrement, feces

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[edit] Mandarin

simpl. and trad.

爸爸

[edit] Pronunciation

•  audio^{help, file}
• IPA: [pa˥˩pa]

[edit] Noun

baba (Pinyin bàba, traditional and simplified 爸爸)

1. (Beginning Mandarin) dad; papa

[edit] See also

• (Min Nan) 阿爸 (a-pah)

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[edit] Polish

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbaba/

[edit] Etymology 1

[edit] Noun

baba f.

1. old woman, woman (impolite)

[edit] Declension

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	baba	baby
Genitive	baby	bab
Dative	babie	babom
Accusative	babę	baby
Instrumental	babą	babami
Locative	babie	babach
Vocative	babo	baby

[edit] Etymology 2

[edit] Noun

baba m.

1. baba (a holy man, a spiritual leader)

[edit] Declension

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	baba	babowie
Genitive	baby	babów
Dative	babie	babom
Accusative	babę	babów
Instrumental	babą	babami
Locative	babie	babach
Vocative	babo	babowie

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[edit] Portuguese

[edit] Etymology

From the hypothetical Latin word *baba.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈba.ba/

[edit] Noun

baba f. (plural babas)

1. drool, dribble

[edit] See also

• babar-se

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[edit] Romanian

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈba.ba]

[edit] Noun

baba f. (singular, nominative/accusative, definite form of babă)

1. the old woman

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[edit] Serbian

[edit] Noun

baba f. (plural babe) (Cyrillic spelling баба)

1. grandmother
2. grandma
3. granny
4. old woman

[edit] Declension

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[edit] Spanish

[edit] Etymology

From the hypothetical Latin word *baba.

[edit] Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbaβa/

[edit] Noun

baba f. (plural babas)

1. drool, dribble

   • La chacha lavaba, y mientras lavaba, la baba se le caía — The maid washed, and as she washed, she drooled. (classroom example of b/v use)

[edit] See also

• cieno
• lama

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[edit] Swahili

[edit] Noun

baba

1. father (male parent)

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[edit] Tagalog

[edit] Adverb

baba

1. low

[edit] Noun

baba

1. chin

[edit] Verb

baba

1. to descend

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[edit] Turkish

[edit] Etymology

The sense of “father” from Persian بابا (bābā).

[edit] Noun

baba

1. father
2. Saint (as in Gül Baba)

[edit] Declension

[edit] Derived terms

Âdem baba ağababa ana baba Arap Baba baba adam baba bucağı baba evi baba hindi baba mirası

baba nasihati baba ocağı Baba Oruç baba tatlısı baba yadigârı baba yurdu babaanne babacan babayiğit

ballıbaba büyük baba dedebaba devlet baba efendibaba Gani Baba Gül Baba Haçkalı Baba iskele babası

kayın baba Mimi Baba Noel baba paşa baba Şam Baba Somuncu Baba üvey baba