dona

Forms

dona f (plural dones)^[1] The DCVB records the pronunciations [dɔ́nə], [dɔ́nɛ], [dɔ́na] and [dɔ́nɔ].^[2] A 12th-century document from Cerdanya writes donna.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin domna, the contracted form of Latin domina (“mistress, lady”).^[3][4][1] The DCVB gives the classical form as the source.^[2] The contracted form is recorded in Latin inscriptions.^[5] The Latin noun is the feminine of dominus (“master, lord”).^[3][4]

The same Latin word is Spanish dueña, Portuguese dona, Italian donna, French dame and Romanian doamnă; the troubadours wrote Old Occitan domna.^[3][6] Coromines points out that almost all the Romance forms come from the syncopated ⟨domna⟩, unlike the outcomes of ⟨femina⟩, which was not yet syncopated in Vulgar Latin and kept its middle vowel: fembra, Spanish hembra, Italian femmina.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the first centuries the word kept its Latin meaning.^[3] A 12th-century document from Cerdanya complains that la donna de Maçanós, the lady of Maçanós, takes the allods of the church of Estol, with the sense of a feudal lady who holds the lordship.^[3]

Semantic evolution

At first fembra was the plain word for a female human being, and dona was the feminine of amo, “master”, and a respectful or gallant word for a lady.^[3] Because it was used so freely as a courtesy, while fembra fell more and more into discredit, from the late Middle Ages dona became the ordinary word set against home.^[3] The sense “person of the female sex” begins to appear at the start of the 14th century, and once at the end of the 13th.^[3]

Coromines traces the start of these changes back to Vulgar Latin: in the 5th century domina was a courteous title for any woman, and in Petronius's Satyricon a freedman already calls his wife domina mea.^[3] Jaume I's chronicle (1244) uses dona for a lady who owns a lordship, and before names, as in la regina Dona Sanxa.^[7] Nostra Dona, Our Lady, is in Tirant lo Blanc.^[7]

Timeline

• 12th century – la donna de Maçanós in a document from Cerdanya.^[3]
• 1244 – Jaume I's chronicle: dona de Montpestler, lady of Montpellier.^[7]
• late 13th to early 14th century – first records of the sense “woman”.^[3]
• 1381 – Eiximenis's Cercapou uses dona for a woman.^[7]
• 1460 – Nostra Dona in Tirant lo Blanc.^[7]
• 1839 – Labèrnia's dictionary defines the word as a female rational creature, and as wife.^[8]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary defines it as a person of the female sex, especially one past puberty.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman: a female human being, especially one past puberty or of mature age.^[10][4][1]
2. A wife.^[10][1]
3. A woman seen as having a given quality, profession or condition: dona de lletres, a woman of letters.^[10]
4. (historical) A lady, mistress or owner; a title of respect before a woman's name.^[2][7]

Interjection

1. Said to a woman to soften a remark or to show impatience, annoyance or surprise.^[10][11]

Word family

• donam
• donejar
• doneta
• donívol

Related words

• donzella
• na
• fembra
• don
• Latin domina
• Spanish dueña
• Italian donna

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. dona
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 174
4. ^ a b c Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. dona
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. domina
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2733
7. ^ a b c d e f Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. dona
8. ^ Labèrnia, Pere (1839–1840), Diccionari de la llengua catalana ab la correspondencia castellana y llatina, 2 vols., Barcelona, p. s.v. dona
9. ^ Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. dona
10. ^ a b c d Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. dona
11. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. dona 2