Moderhode

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The condition or state of being a mother, or of having given birth to and raised a child
2. The role, status or experience of a woman who has borne and is raising children
3. Maternity as a state of life, meaning the position and duties belonging to a mother

Etymology: "Moderhode" is a Middle English word, recorded from around the late 14th century, and it is built from two parts: "moder", the Old English word for "mother" (from Proto-Germanic "*mōdēr", shared with German "Mutter" and Latin "mater"), and "-hode", a suffix meaning "state, condition, or rank" that also appears in "childhood" and "manhood". Together they formed a noun for the condition of being a mother. The suffix is the more interesting half. Its original form, "-hād" or "-hood", was a standalone Old English noun meaning "person, rank, or condition," so the word "moderhode" literally means something like "mother-condition." English speakers in the medieval period readily combined this suffix with kin terms, which is why "fatherhood" and "brotherhood" follow the same pattern. Like many formations of this kind, "moderhode" was never a core everyday word, and it has largely given way to "motherhood" in modern English. The spelling with "-er-" is an older form that survived in Middle English and is now archaic.