PROTO: *dājV / *dādājV
MEANING: father; mother
COMMENT: A common NC nursery word, used for the most part as a term of endearment. Similar words are widely spread in many linguistic families, but the addressing form *dādā may well have existed also in PNC (correspondences between subgroups are basically regular). The root is usually reduplicated (although several languages reflect a non-reduplicated *dājV or a partially reduplicated *ʔādājV; cf. also HU: Hurr. at:aj, Urart. atǝ 'father', see Diakonoff-Starostin 1986, 25).
This stem certainly was not a basic name for either 'father' (which was most probably *ʔŏbV̄jV) or 'mother' (*ʔānVjV), but could possibly be used as a term of endearment for both parents.
