Grandmother Achievement Day is observed every year on February 11 and is the perfect opportunity to celebrate our beloved grandmothers. A grandmother is the mother of an individual’s mother and father. She is one’s paternal grandmother if she is the mother of a person’s father, and maternal grandmother if she is the mother of a person’s mother. The role of grandmothers in general culture is so rich that they take very active roles in raising and taking care of young children. They are usually as much an option to children as the mothers of those children. In cases where parents are unavailable or otherwise indisposed to giving adequate care to their children, grandparents — especially grandmothers — are seen to assume the role of primary caregivers. In many cultures, grandmothers often have direct involvement in the care and nurturing of children. They are usually second-degree relatives to their grandchildren.
Grandmothers have existed right from the beginning of time. This is so because once early humans began to multiply and have more children, young mothers advanced in age as their children advanced. And sooner or later, their children became parents themselves, thereby making room for the role and title of ‘grandmother.’ The first grandmother probably existed several hundreds of thousands of years ago, but the word for that title had not always been ‘grandmother’ or ‘grandma.’ It is at this time unclear what the expression of the title was in much earlier times, but it was not ‘grandmother.’
The use of the prefix ‘grand’ did not come into existence until about the 13th century. The word ‘grand’ is a variant of the French word ‘graund,’ which itself is a translation of the Latin term ‘magnus’, meaning ‘great.’ In the 13th century, common Old English terms of ‘ealde’ and ‘ieldra’ were used to refer to grandmothers and, in fact, grandparents generally. Across the world, different terms are used for the word ‘grandmother,’ and these terms vary from country to country and across cultures. The word ‘grandma’ is the most popular term used to describe grandmothers in many countries such as the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. However, in countries such as Canada for instance, such terms as ‘nan,’ ‘nana,’ ‘gran’ and ‘granny’ are the words used to address grandmothers. Grandmothers in India are called ‘nana’ and ‘nani.’
A person’s maternal grandmother is called ‘par-nana.’ There are various other names for grandmothers depending on the person and what both parties are comfortable with. In North America, many people call their grandmothers by their names. For example, French grandmothers are called ‘mamie.’
Other languages have a more specific kinship terminology than the English language by which to distinguish between maternal and paternal grandmothers. In Swedish culture, for instance, there is not a single word for grandmother but the term ‘mormor’ is most often used for their grandmothers. Regardless of whatever term you choose to address your grandmother by, Grandmother Achievement Day is a time for celebrating the grandmother or grandmothers in your life!
