I remember coming across that term for mother years ago. I didn't even know at that time that ふくろ = bag (袋). Only just realised it when you said about it now.
http://gogen-allguide.com/o/ofukuro.html
This site linked above gives really good explainations for the etymology of individual Japanese words and theories of how the word came about. That page also describes the situations of when おふくろ is used. However, I found this line the most interesting:
子供は母親の懐で育つため、「ふところ」が詰まって「ふくろ」となり、「おふくろ」になったとする説。
So 懐 (ふところ) "bosom" could have become shortened to ふくろ while still being used as a term related to "mother", or so that theory goes.
April 4, 2015 at 12:37pm
ママ = Mom
Perhaps, I should have said mother. I heard お袋 lately and it was new for me, I'm used to 母さん、お母さん、母上、母親、お母様 or even ママ but not おふくろ so I wondered if it was common.
No, it's not common. In my 6 years of being here, I've heard only one person use it.
I remember coming across that term for mother years ago. I didn't even know at that time that ふくろ = bag (袋). Only just realised it when you said about it now.