1. μαῖα · maia
good mother
good mother, form of address to old women, Hom. (only in Od.), always in voc., usu. addressed to Eurycleia, the nurse of Odysseus, Od. 19.482, al.; but also to Eurynome the ταμίη, 17.499: hence not only of nurses, cf. h.Cer. 147, Ar. Ec. 915 (lyr.).
2 foster-mother, mother
later, foster-mother, E. Hipp. 243 (anap.), Antiph. 159.6; also, a true mother, μαῖα δὴ κάτω βέβακεν E. Alc. 393 (lyr.): metaph., of the earth, ἰὼ γαῖα μαῖα A. Ch. 44 (lyr.), cf. S. Fr. 959.
3 midwife
midwife, Pl. Tht. 149a, Isyll. 54, Sor. 2.3, al., etc.
b lady doctor
lady doctor, Gal. 14.641.
4 grandmother
in Dor., grandmother, Iamb. VP 11.56, IG 12(3).1120 (Melos).
II large kind of crab
large kind of crab, Arist. HA 525b4, al.
III
a plant, = λεπίδιον, Orib. Fr. 102. (Prob. from same Root as μήτηρ.)