This seems to be a western thing: saying aww at something cute or endearing. But how exactly did it start and do people of non western countries day it as well?
Bump.
Well, since it’s not a word, but a transcription of a vocalisation, I don’t think we’re going to know much besides the fact that it’s first recorded in writing in 1852. I’d actually be curious if other areas’ cooing noises differ.
The spelling for it in Spanish does, but that’s a matter of transcription, same as English cats miaow while Spanish ones say miau. “Awww” is one of the ways you can coo in Spanish but we spell it oooh (with a variable number of os to indicate length; the official spelling is with only one).