A name for a Nanny

[feder1]

DAK what is the name used for a nanny which is something like "aiya".

It may be a local person who helps with the youngster.

Was there one in "Gone with the Wind"?

[DeepSporran]

Ayah?

From website

en.oxforddictionaries.com


“A nursemaid or nanny employed by Europeans in India or another former British territory.”

[PinkDalek]

DAK what is the name used for a nanny which is something like "aiya".

It may be a local person who helps with the youngster.

Was there one in "Gone with the Wind"?

There was a "Mammy" in Gone with the Wind, so I don't think you heard it there:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0567408/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_i8

More likely you got it from Kipling and it appears to be Ayah.

According to https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_h ... nanny.html:

"Aya" is a word I remember from Kipling. It does actually qualify as an English word, being one of the many Indian (mainly Hindi) words that have come into English. … “Aya”* is an Anglo-Indian term for nanny or maid, who specifically looks after children.

[feder1]

Thanks all.

I looked up amah too.

"An amah or ayah (simplified Chinese: 阿嬷; traditional Chinese: 阿嬤; pinyin: ā mā, Portuguese: ama, German: Amme, Medieval Latin: amma; or ayah Hindi: āyā or amma, 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."

[Dod101]

Amahs, in Hong Kong, at least have all but died out. 50 years ago they were common but about ten years later they began to be replaced with Filipinos and they are called maids. Amahs were typically unmarried Chinese women who often dedicated their life to serving one family.

As far as I know the word was derived from Portuguese. They of course were by far the longest settlers in that part of the world, and Ayah was I think the Indian version of the same. To the Cantonese, ayah! is an expression of surprise a bit like 'good grief!' I still use it today much to the surprise and amusement of my friends.

Dod