ma bap

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “From an Indian language, where it apparently means "mother and father".”)

Noun

ma bap (plural ma baps)

1. (India, historical) A person regarded as having a somewhat parental role toward their dependents; a benevolent overseer.
   • 1905, Pherozeshah Mehta, Sir Chirravoori Yajneswara Chintamani, Speeches and Writings of the Honourable Sir Pherozeshah M. Mehta, page XXI:

     […] its members must adapt themselves to the changes which the country is undergoing, if they wish to command the regard, nay, the affection which the ma baps used to command in the olden days.

   • 1909, E. J. Churcher, Some Reminiscences of Three-quarters of a Century in India, page 19:

     The agriculturists and landlords knew nothing of rights of occupancy, and the tenants were all tenants at will. The former looked upon the latter as their "Ma Baps" (mothers and fathers), and there was very little litigation in the Courts. There was no High Court as at present constituted, and no penal or suchlike codes.

   • 1925, Bombay Millowners' Association, The Indian Cotton Excise Duty, page 176:

     It reminds me of the profession, exploded only recently, that the Government officials were the real Ma baps of the teeming millions of this country.

   • 2004, Fritz Blackwell, Lucien Ellington, India: A Global Studies Handbook, page 35:

     The British believed they were doing the Indians a favor by ruling them. They referred to themselves as “ma-bap,” mother-father, and considered the Indians as children in their care.