motherland

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 applied to Russia, and many Russians and various Slavs around the world refer to Russia as their motherland, even if they do not have immediate ancestors from that country. ^{[citation needed]}

In Spanish-speaking countries Madre Patria can refer to the speaker's own home country, or be understood as a general reference to Spain (Patria Madre).

See also: Mother tongue

In other languages:

• Amharic: እናት ሀገር (Ənat hagär)
• Arabic: وطن (waṭan)
• Azerbaijani: Vətən (وطن), Ana vətən (آنا وطن), Ana yurdu (آنا يوردو)
• Belarusian: Радзіма (Radzima), Бацькаўшчына (Baćkaŭščyna)
• Bengali: Matribhumi
• Bulgarian: Родина (Rodina). Oтечество (Otechestvo), meaning fatherland, is also used.
• Chinese: 祖国 (pinyin: zǔguó), which literally means "land of our ancestors" and not necessarily "motherland" nor "fatherland". However, in English this is almost exclusively translated as "motherland".
• 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
• Italian: Madre Patria
• 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
• Malayalam: മാതൃഭൂമി (Mathrubhoomi)
• Malay: Ibu Petiwi or Tanah Air
• Nepalese: matribhumi
• Norwegian: mødrelandet
• Persian: ميهن (Meehan)
• Polish: Macierz
• Portuguese: Mãe-Pátria, or simply Pátria
• Punjabi: Matazameen
• Romanian: Patria Mamă
• Russian: Родина (Rodina - 'ancestral land', derived from Rod), also Родина-мать (Rodina-mat' - 'motherland'). Oтечество (Otechestvo) and Отчизна (Otchizna), meaning fatherland, are also used.
• Slovenian: Očetnjava (literally 'fatherland', archaic) or Domovina (literally 'home country' from Dom 'home')
• Spanish: Madre Patria
• Swedish: Moderland
• Tagalog: Inang Bayan
• Turkish: Anavatan / Anayurdu
• Tamil: Thainadu (literally, 'mother country') or Thaimannu (literally, 'mother soil')
• Thai: Matuphum (มาตุภูมิ), adapted from Sanskrit
• Ukrainian: Батьківщина (Bat'kivshchyna), Вітчизна (Vitchyzna), both meaning fatherland.
• Urdu: Madarizameen (literally, 'mother soil')
• Welsh: Mamwlad
• 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 languages.

See also

• Fatherland
• Homeland

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