μαῖα, ἡ,
good mother, form of address to old women, [[ 8th c.BC: Homerus Epicus (only in 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey”)] Refs 8th c.BC+], always in vocative, usually addressed to Eurycleia, the nurse of Odysseus, [[ 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 19.482, +others; but also to Eurynome the ταμίη, 17.499 ] Refs 8th c.BC+]: hence not only of nurses,[[compare “hymnus ad Cererem” 147, 5th-6th c.BC: Aristophanes Comicus “Ecclesiazusae” 915 (Lyric poetry). ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__2 later, foster-mother, [[ 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Hippolytus” 243 (_anapaest meter_), 4th c.BC: Antiphanes Comicus 159.6 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; also, a true mother, μαῖα δὴ κάτω βέβακεν [[ 5th c.BC: Euripides Tragicus “Alcestis” 393 (Lyric poetry)] Refs 5th c.BC+]: metaphorically, of the earth, ἰὼ γαῖα μαῖα [[ 4th-5th c.BC: Aeschylus Tragicus “Choephori” 44 (Lyric poetry), compare 5th c.BC: Sophocles Tragicus “Fragmenta” 959. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__3 midwife, [[ 5th-6th c.BC: Plato Philosophus “Theaetetus” 149a, 3rd c.BC: Isyllus Lyricus 54, 2nd c.AD: Soranus Medicus 2.3, +others, etc. ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__3.b lady doctor, [[ 2nd c.AD: Galenus Medicus 14.641. ] Refs 2nd c.AD+]
__4 in Doric dialect, grandmother, [[ 4th c.AD: Iamblichus Philosophus “de vita Pythagorica” 11.56, “IG” 12(3).1120 (from Melos). ] Refs 4th c.AD+]
__II large kind of crab, [[ 4th c.BC: Aristoteles Philosophus “Historia Animalium” 525b4, +others ] Refs 4th c.BC+]