mama-pian

English

Alternative forms

• mamanpian

Etymology

Compound of mama +‎ pian. Compare Spanish mama-pian, French mamanpian, mère des pians. First attested in 1822.

Noun

mama-pian (plural not attested) (Caribbean, obsolete)

1. The primary lesion caused by yaws, typically surrounded by other, smaller lesions.

   Synonyms: mamma-yaw, master yaw, mother-yaw

   • 1860, Robert J. Jordan, Skin Diseases and Their Remedies, page 191:

     One ulcer is usually larger and fouler than the rest, and this is known by the negroes  […] as the mama-pian, or mama yaw.

   • 1822, John Mason Good, edited by Samuel Cooper, The Study of Medicine, volume 2, page 675:

     [T]he master-fungus being named mama-pian, or mother-yaw, as supposed to be the source or supply of the rest.

   • 1903 [1898], Sir Patrick Manson, Tropical Diseases, Cassell & Company, ltd., page 526:

     A large persistent yaw is sometimes known as the "mother," or "grandmother," or "mama-pian" […]

References

• “mama-pian, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.