Note E85 — 17.
Reading edition
"Moether" [and "mother", 16. 14.]. This word is derived by Sir H. Spelman from Danish moer = an unmarried girl. "Puera, a woman chylde, callyd in Cambrydgeshyre a modder." "Pupa, a yonge wenche, a gyrle, a modder."—Elyot's Lat. Dict. 1538. "Fille, a maid, girle, modder, lasse."—Cotgrave. Ben Jonson uses the word in his "Alchymist": "Away, you talk like a foolish mauther."—Act iv. sc. 7. Richard Brome also has it in the Eng. Moor, Act iii. sc. i.:
P. "I am a mother, that do want a service.
Qu. O, thou'rt a Norfolk woman (cry thee mercy,) Where maids are mothers, and mothers are maids."
"I have been informed by an intelligent friend, who is a native of Norfolk, that on a certain trial in that county, it was asked who was the evidence of what had been stated. The answer was, 'A mather playing on a planchard.' The Judge was nonplussed, till the meaning was explained, namely, 'A girl playing on the floor.'"—M.