# Why is it "Mother Russia"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162 "2010-02-16T04:03:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/1 "2010-02-16T04:03:10Z")
Well, that’s the question in a nutshell…and, when did “she” become a mother? Is it a reflection of how Russia has been ruled by dictators…like an overbearing mother’s relation to her children, I WAG? ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/2 "2010-02-16T04:08:26Z")
I think its a rough translation from Родина (Rodina) - Motherland. Some languages call their home the Fatherland, some call it the Homeland, Russians call it the Motherland. ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/3 "2010-02-16T05:25:30Z")
i know in Latin the word for father is pater, patris (m)…whereas the word for country is patria, patriae, (f) so the more literal translation of patria is something like ‘fatherland’…does anyone know if Russian is also like this? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/4 "2010-02-16T06:11:55Z")
**Neptunian Slug** gave the Russian word with the same sort of emotional connotation as _patris_, to wit, _Rodina_, from a root meaning family, birth, and a meaning more or less of “Motherland.” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/5 "2010-02-16T06:17:39Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > Is it a reflection of how Russia has been ruled by dictators…like an overbearing mother’s relation to her children, I WAG? More likely it is an expression of the love the love they feel for the land of their birth, and that has nurtured them. It is a pretty obvious metaphor of love. To see negative connotations in it suggests, um… issues (whether about mothers or about Russia, I can’t say). ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/6 "2010-02-16T12:03:15Z")
Norway is both fedrelandet “the fatherland” and mor Norge “mother Norway”. These expressions stretch back much further than the politics of the previous century, and I expect the same goes for Russia. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/7 "2010-02-16T12:31:23Z")
The land out of which you are born and where you were raised would easily be associated with motherhood, if you’re inclined to anthropomorphize. Also, while in the West it became a common trope to use “mother country” to refer to the preceeding polity from which your more recent state spun off, that does not necessarily apply to longer-extant nations. While at the hijack: “patria” can be both a noun for “country” and a modifier meaning “of or related to the father”. So “fatherland” does not necessarily imply that the land _is the_ father, but that it is the land _OF_ the fathers; thus you have the Norwegian example where the country is both “fatherland” and “mother” (with no “-land” tag). ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/8 "2010-02-16T13:24:06Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Norway is both fedrelandet “the fatherland” and mor Norge “mother Norway”. These expressions stretch back much further than the politics of the previous century, and I expect the same goes for Russia. So is Sweden, _fäderneslandet_ and _Moder Svea_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/9 "2010-02-16T13:37:17Z")
There is a detailed explanation in the _Introduction: Russia as Mother_ to [Mother Russia by Joanna Hubbs](http://books.google.com.au/books?id=fVQz3I4FCWUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mother+russia&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false). In part she says: For centuries, Russia had a predominantly agrarian culture. The land was called Mother, and her physical features - natural or man-made - were also given maternal epithets. Rivers that ran through the immense steppes are still called “little mothers”: _Matushka_ Don, _Matushka_ Dnieper. Most important of all is _Matushka_ Volga, whose sacred nature is celebrated in the first recoded folk song and in a popular ballad as “Our Dear Mother” and “Our Natal Mother.” ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/10 "2010-02-16T13:56:38Z")
There’s also [Mother India](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_India) and [Mother Ireland](http://www.kinglaoghaire.com/site/lyrics/song_198.html). I’m sure there are others. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/11 "2010-02-16T14:38:09Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > So is Sweden, _fäderneslandet_ and _Moder Svea_. Russian also has words that are the equivalent of Fatherland and Motherland. _Otechestvo_ (from _otets_, father) seems to have connotations of duty and, well, patriotism (the Great Patriotic War (aka WWII) is _Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voina_). _Rodina_ seems to have more warm, atavistic overtones, and is used for emotional appeals: [_Rodina-Mat Zovyot!_ [The Mother-Motherland [sic - it doesn’t sound as redundant in Russian] Calls!]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3380/3346237939_b1dec86461.jpg?v=0) ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/12 "2010-02-16T15:05:58Z")
it’s “mother” (more specifically “mommy”/“dear mom” - “matushka”) because the word “Russia” as well as “Rus” (as in Kievan Rus) is of feminine gender in the Russian language. Saying “father Russia” would sound stupid and “fatherland Russia” more or less ok but not as elegant. Idiomatic expressions need to be aesthetically pleasing and generally make sense within the language’s context to get traction. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/13 "2010-02-16T15:12:17Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > … _Moder Svea_ I just looked _Moder Svea_ up and found that it is a poetic metaphor coined in the 17th century. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/14 "2010-02-16T19:42:53Z")
> [@YourAdHere](#): > > i know in Latin the word for father is pater, patris (m)…whereas the word for country is patria, patriae, (f) so the more literal translation of patria is something like ‘fatherland’…does anyone know if Russian is also like this? Interestingly, Spanish (which borrows more than a tiny bit from Latin) has the word “patria” to mean just that, the “fatherland”. Except that most Spanish speaking countries speak of the “madre patria” for their homeland. That would be something like the “mother fatherland”. It might have to do with “patria” despite its male roots being a female word (“LA patria”). ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-it-mother-russia/529162/15 "2010-02-17T01:39:56Z")
The word Россия (Russia) is feminine. Any time you’re going to refer to it, you’re going to use the feminine.