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This article discusses the symbolism of maternity, a cultural metaphor enabling transmission in the genealogical and educational domains. For there to be fatherhood − whether in the metaphorical sense of the paternal “name”, or in the sense of paternal signification in culture as theorized by Freud and then elaborated upon by J. Lacan − there must also be motherhood, in the sense of what the mother represents in culture: maternity as heritage and transmission. It is thus the mother, or more precisely a maternal metaphor, which lies at the center of the process of transmission, in dialectic with the father. The author examines how the maternal metaphor intervenes in various processes, developing first within the infant’s relation to the mother, reformulating itself in the Oedipus complex, and reinterpreting itself in the aftermath of the discourse of the romantic encounter. In addition, it is also involved in the cultural exploration of laws pertaining to exogamy and alliance. A constant dialectic is formed with the paternal metaphor in a movement of symbolic elaboration of love in its sublimation capacity.