Although the person who coined the translation is unknown as of year, it was presumably named as such because of the fact that '酵' had long been a letter meaning fermentation in Asia, and '母,' which had also been written as '酒母' and read as 'moto (origin),' had been a letter meaning an origin of all creation or phenomena.
この訳語を考案した人は年現在定かではないが、「酵」は古くから東洋で発酵現象を意味する字であり、「母」は、それ以前も「酒母」と書いて「もと」と読んでいたことも含めて、万物の根源、現象の元、という意味の字であったからだと考えられる。