Words for midwife

Words for midwife collected in my travels this year:

English:   Midwife           

mid – wife, means being with – woman

French:    Sagefemme            

sage – femme, means wise-woman

Italian:    Levatrice:             

leva, means to grow, from alevare / lavare,

trice – is the feminine ending in Italian,

thus, “the growing one” 

or “the one who supports growth (in the feminine)”

German:   Hebamme            

heban, to hold

Amme – the “wet nurse,” woman who nurses the babies (not her own),

thus, “the holding and nursing woman” 

or “the woman who holds and nurses others (mother and baby)”

Japanese:   Jo-san-pu       

pu – means woman, signified by the character for a “broom,” used to purify the space for worship of ancestors,

thus, “woman carrying out noble activities”

or "woman preparing space for new life from the ancestors"