Very few words have a greater inherent importance to societies that those that impact the survival of their identity. The present overview belongs to at least two clusters of ideas. One cluster presents concepts regarding Gestation, Pregnancy, Abortion, Birth and Birth Defects. Another cluster concerns overviews about Mother, Milk and beverages such as wine and beer as in imbibe and baby.

Birth - Delivery - Cephalic.

In this overview the focus is on the DELIVERY of NEONATES or NEW NATIVES. Such subjects require, with apologies from the author, a rather complex and rather long treatment.

Birth in Medieval style.

(The Slippers are lovely.)

LABOR, DELIVERY and BIRTH or NATALITY are ideas that inherently point to CONCEPT, CONCEPTion and the CREATion of CREATures.

DeLIVERy are sites of LABor or WORK. Work has to do with ERG and ORG thus enERGY and ORGanism which relate to FORCE and FORCEPS. Relatedly, LABor and deLIVERy rooms are like LABoratories  where sweat, tears and pain abound.

Birth in Tahitian style.

Regarding OBSTetricians, their conTRACT with patient  in LABOR is to minimize OBSTacles in the birth TRACT and aleviate the TOIL of WOMen who conTORT from the PAIN and TORTure of WOMb conTRACTions. Another aim is to ease the TRAVail of the child in their TRAVel to this world and help to deLIVEr a NEWBORN NATIVE aLIVE and with a good LIVEr.

Birth is a TORTuous TRIP. This MEMORable TRAVel is comMEMORated by birthdays. Found in all languages are ancient roots depicting birth and delivery as a difficult voyage. TRABa, TRABajo, TRIPaliare and TRIPaty in Spanish, Latin and Ukrainian denote OBSTacle, work, torture and beating.

BIRTH, NATALITY and NATIVE point to INBORN, INNATE or CONGENITAL. It is customary to say "inborn" errors of metabolism or "a native citizen", rather than "native metabolism" or "inborn citizen". Such fashions to not alter the homologous nature of these words pointing toward heredity and genetics.

Birth in Amerindian style.

PREGNASCI, NASCI, NATALIS, NATUS, NATIONALIS, NATIVUS, INNASCI, RENASCI, DENASCI in Latin stand for pregnancy, nascent, natality, neonate, nationality, native, innate, renaissance and denaturalize. These ideas are closely linked with those about NATURE and NATURAL. In medicine, "natural", in simplistic terms, implies lack of manipulation or ADULTeration by human ADULTs. "Natural" birth implies a process without  interventions by other adults, an unlikely proposition.

Many women who deliver babies are not ADULTS. Optimal MATernity requires MATurity and MATerial as well as PSYCHologic resources for the baby. Succinctly put, ADULTs are "those who are able and willing to care for another". Such care must include not only a capacity to provide nutriments for the body but also provide aliMENTation or nourishment for MENTal development or a new PSYCHE. PSYCHE also thrives on love.

NATIVITY engenders neoNATES or new NATIVES that in some societies get conGENITAL NATURAL rights and as NATIVES are considered citizens. NATIVISM is a political doctrine, prevalent in the "new world", which confers citizenship based on the place of birth or "nativity". The doctrine is known as "lex solis" or the law of site of birth. Other societies uphold the doctrine "lex sanguinis" which is based on the "blood" line of the parents as does the state of  Israel. All Jews, regardless of what soil they are born on, can be Israeli citizens.

BIRTH and BERTH point to BHRAME, BHRITI, BRAT, and BRAK which in Sanskrit and Ukrainian mean to bear, birth, coming to life, brother and marriage.

Some people like and induce deformations.

PARTURITION and PARITY also refer to birth. From Spanish PARTO, PARTIR, PARTE and PARIENTE, once again, link PARTurition with dePART, PART, and PARenT. The above sustains the biologic fact that a child is "a PART of a PARenT". It is apPARENT that a PARenT is like an author, a source or origin of creation or creature. In Latin PARERE or PARENTIS means deliverer.

Many are born with a "club" foot or pied bot.
(See medical version)

In Ukrainian RODY, RODYTEL, ROD, RODYVO, URODA, RODOVID, RODOM, RODEN, RODYNA and NAROD link the ideas of birth with parent, parturition, labor, beauty, genealogy, descent, element, relatives and a people.

Some are born with more than two legs.

In Spanish, to give birth is "DAR A LUZ" or "ALUMBRAMIENTO" for "give to light" or "enlighten" - poetic terms to point out the passage or delivery of a child from the darkness of a WOMan's WOMb to the light of this world. To elaborate further, in Spanish aLUMbrar and LUMbre mean birth and light or iLUMination. These ideas reverberate further in Ukrainian SVIT, SVITLO, OSVITA for universe, light, and enlightenment by knowledge.

The Athenian King Cecrops had snake like legs.

The link of delivery with light is quite ancient. In classic mythology, LUCina, LUCine or LUCinda is a Goddess of childbirth. LUCINDA points to LUCis, LUX and LUXuria for birth, light, luxury and lust. Lust often is materialized as unplanned pregnancies.

LUCinda helped LETO, LATONA in her labor and delivery. Leto, after being impregnated by Zeus, was cursed by his spouse Hera who decreed that she could not deliver wherever the sun could shine. To help Leto, Zeus asked Poseidon to anchor a floating island known as Ortygia on four aDAMANTine  pillars as strong as DIAMONDS. Then, Zeus asked Boreas to blow a storm to raise a curtain of sea water to shade the island from the sun. So did Leto find a BERTH to give BIRTH with the help of LUCINDA, also called DELIA.

Love is born.

LETO, delivered the twins Artemis and Apollo, also called Lykios, Phoebos, Clarius or Helios, all names linked with ideas of light and illumination. Also, as mentioned before, LUX or light points to luxury and lust, the source of many unplanned and often undesired pregnancies.

LUCinda also links with light, as in LUCubrate or meditate a term used to "shed light on obscure subjects". In the case of unwanted CONCEPtions, the LUCubrum or hard work of many, has failed to diminish their frequency and impact on demands for abortion.

Artemis having seen how much her mother Leto suffered during childbirth,  developed a phobia to childbirth. For the rest of her existence, Artemis or Diana struggled to remain PARTHENOS or a virgin. Some mortal virgins with less resolve than Artemis have, at times, tried to explain their unplanned pregnancies as PARTHENOGENETIC.

Birth of Venus in Ancient and Victorian styles.

From LETO we also get LOCHIA, a term denoting the usual vaginal discharge that follows a delivery. We also get the Latin words LECTUS, LECTULUS, LECTICA, LETTO for couch, settee and cot or bed and Italian LETTO, Spanish LECHO and Ukrainian LISHKO for bed.

Finally, it is provocative that in English LITTER denotes COT, DIRT and BROOD which in Ukrainian also means DIRT.

Note that birth, natality or delivery can be expanded by exploring ideas in maternity, matter, mother, woman, womb, nurse, nutrition, nurturing, nature and other related subjects dealt  in other illustrated overviews.

Medical Version of "Delivery, Birth"