> I am not familiar with a single language in which 'mother' is
> not some very obvious derivative of 'MA' and where 'father' is
> not similar to 'DA', 'BA' or 'PA'. In fact, 'water', is often
> something like 'WA' or 'VA'.

Try Japanese:
Mother -- Okaasan or Haha
Father --Otoosan or Chichi
Water--Mizu

I'd guess you're only familiar with languages in the Indo-European family.
Japanese is incredibly rich in onomatapaea but with a very different feel.

I just thought I'd chip this in as nobody had picked up on it as far as I've
read... nich