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Since おふくろ is one way to address one's own mother, I was wondering whether the
「ふく」 part is related to the word meaning 'clothes' or not.

And if not, what is the origin of おふくろ?
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2015-02-06T14:35:48.523
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2015-02-07T06:19:13.227
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question
words meaning etymology
Is おふくろ related to ふく?
The kanji for it is 袋 (Bag - ironically) so I'd say no. According to the link
below, the word is derived from:

>   1. Bags being used to manage valuables... like a mother would.
>   2. The bag in the uterus (placenta?)... [TMI me thinks]
>   3. When a mother hugs a child tightly, the [futokoro: area around the
> chest] becomes like a bag.
>

Side Note: Interested to know what [懐]{ふところ} is in English. J-Wikipedia says
it's the inner part of the upper torso of garments.

<http://homepage2.nifty.com/osiete/s623.htm>
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2015-02-06T15:25:42.877
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2015-02-07T06:19:13.227
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My answer is (basically) the same as kiss-o-matic.

I would have never thought about why we call our mothers おふくろ if you didn't
ask us.

I am going to translate (<http://gogen-allguide.com/o/ofukuro.html>) ( I can
not copy the original Japanese due to the copyright ):

> The word has been seen since Muromachi era, and there are several theories
> about the origin of the name that have not been confirmed. One theory is お
> is a prefix, and since mothers managed placing all the money and valuables
> into bags (ふくろ), thus they came to be called お/ふくろ.
>
> Another theory is that because organs such as the placentae, womb, and egg
> membrane were called ふくろ, the name of organ also became used for mothers.
>
> Last one holds because children were brought up by mothers, the name ふところ
> denoting "the nest, pockets, etc" contracted to be おふくろ.
>
> In modern times, the word おふくろ is mostly used by males. however according to
> the Japanese-Portuguese dictionary published in 1603, it was females rather
> than males using the term back then.
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2015-02-06T23:28:39.073
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2015-02-07T04:18:35.123
2015-02-07T04:18:35.123
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