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Anamah (Portuguese:ama,German:Amme,Medieval Latin:amma,simplified Chinese:阿妈;traditional Chinese:阿媽;pinyin:ā mā;Wade–Giles:a¹ ma¹) orayah (Portuguese:aia,Latin:avia,Tagalog:yaya) is a girl or woman employed by a family to clean, look after children, and perform other domestic tasks.Amah is the usual version inEast Asia, whileayah relates more toSouth Asia, and tends to specifically mean anursemaid looking after young children, rather than a generalmaid.
It is adomestic servant role which combines functions of maid andnanny. They may be required to wear a uniform. The term, resembling the pronunciation for "mother" (seeMama and papa), is considered polite and respectful in theChinese language.
Ayahs have been identified as a distinctive occupational group in India from the late eighteenth century, becoming the mainstay of childcare work during the periods ofCompany rule in India and theBritish Raj, as colonial wives and therefore children became more prevalent.[1][2] Joanna de Silva, a native of Bengal, possibly of part Portuguese descent, was an early example of an ayah who travelled to Britain with her charges, and, more rarely, had her portrait painted by William Wood in 1792.[3][4]
A rare written and signed agreement between Mina Ayah of 15 Free School Street, Calcutta, an Indian ayah and a British family, the Greenhills, was signed in 1896, and survives in the British Library. It lays out the terms of services for the voyage to Britain looking after two children, and Mina Ayah's return "£10.0.0. for my return passage unless Mrs Greenhill finds me a lady to return with".[5]
Ayahs also worked in Singapore, Indian and Malay ayahs during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. By the 1930s, Chinese amahs were more prevalent in theStraits Settlements andHong Kong.
The Indian and Chinese women were employed in households in South and South-East Asia and also accompanied British families, and children travelling without their parents, across the seas between Asia, Europe, and Australia.[1]
In Hong Kong the word yaya became more common, by the 2010s, as Filipinas became domestic workers in that territory.[6]
The wordamah may have originated from theArabic:أَمَةٌ,romanized: ʾamah, meaning "female slave"; or from the Portugueseama, meaning "nurse".[7] Some however argued that it is the English form of the Chinese wordah mah.Ah (阿;ā) is a common Chinese prefix used before monosyllabic names or kinship terms to indicate familiarity, andmah (妈;媽;mā) means "mother". Others say that the word originated from the term for awet nurse,nai mah (奶妈;奶媽;nǎimā; 'milk mother').[8] This word is common inEast Asia,Southeast Asia andSouth Asia to denote a maidservant or nursemaid.[9]
Variants such asAmah-chieh ormahjeh (姐;jiě means elder sister in Chinese dialects) have also been used in some countries.[7][8] InChina,amah may even refer to any old lady in general. In Taiwan and southeastern China where theMinnan language is spoken, amah (Chinese:阿媽;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:a‑má) refers to the paternal grandmother. Similar terms in the same context includeah-yee (Chinese:阿姨;pinyin:āyí;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:a‑î;lit. 'aunt'),yee-yee (aunt), orjie-jie (elder sister). Since the mid-1990s, it has become morepolitically correct in some circles to call such a person a 'helper' rather than a maid orayah.
During theTang dynasty in China, the wordamah was used as an informal and poetic title for theTaoist goddess, theQueen Mother of the West. "Amah" also means mother in many countries.[citation needed]
Amah andayah have been adopted asloanwords into theEnglish language: