Frau

Forms

Frau f (genitive Frau, plural Frauen, diminutive Fräulein n or Frauchen n or Frauerl n)^[1] The noun was weak in Old and Middle High German; weak endings (der Frauen in the genitive singular) lasted into the second half of the 18th century, and the 17th and 18th centuries also had a plural Frauens.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German vrouwe, inherited from Old High German frouwa (“mistress, lady”), inherited from Proto-West Germanic *frauwjā, inherited from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ (“lady”).^[3][4][1] It is a feminine formed to the Germanic word for “lord”, Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰 (frauja, “lord”), which German has lost except in Old High German frō (“lord”) and its genitive plural behind Fron and Fronleichnam.^[3][4][5] The same pair appears in the divine names Old Norse Freyr and Freyja, and the feminine is also Old Saxon frūa and Old Frisian frouwe; Swedish fru and Danish frue were borrowed from Low German.^[3][6][4] In West Germanic the group -awj- became -aww-, so there was nothing to cause umlaut.^[6]

The words belong to the root Proto-Indo-European *per- (“in front, early, first”), so that the “lord” was properly “the first”, as with Fürst.^[3][5][7] Kluge notes that comparable formations with a w-suffix have either the full grade, meaning “inclined forward”, or the zero grade, meaning “first”, as in Old Church Slavonic прьвъ (prĭvŭ, “first”), and assumes that the Germanic word had a non-syllabic r.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German frouwa is first recorded in glosses at the beginning of the 9th century and then in Otfrid, Notker and the Pariser Gespräche, meaning “mistress, lady, woman of high rank” and glossing Latin domina and matrona.^[8][6][9]

Semantic evolution

In medieval society vrouwe was the title of a noble married lady, the head of a household, matching Herr, while wīp (Weib) was the general word for a female person.^[4][10] From the 12th century Frau could also be used without regard to rank for an adult woman and for a wife, and since the 17th century these have been its main senses; the link with high rank was lost in the 18th century, when Frau became general with the rise of the middle classes.^[2][3][4] As a title before a name it is first recorded in the 11th–12th century, at first for women of rank, from the 14th century also for others, and in the early 19th century it began to replace Madame.^[2][3][4]

The old sense “lady” survives in Unsere Liebe Frau for the Virgin Mary (compare French Notre Dame), in Hausfrau (Middle High German hūsvrouwe “mistress of the house”) and in gnädige Frau.^[10][5] English borrowed frau “married woman” in 1813, hausfrau in 1798 and fräulein in 1689, and Hungarian took fraj about 1590.^[11][12]

Timeline

• Early 9th century – Old High German frouwa appears in glosses.^[8]
• 11th–12th century – Frau is first used with a personal name.^[2]
• 12th century – Frau begins to be used for any adult woman, regardless of rank.^[2]
• 15th century – Strong singular forms appear beside the weak ones.^[2]
• 17th century – “woman” and “wife” become the main senses.^[2]
• 1813 – English borrows frau.^[11][12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman, an adult female person.^[13][1]
2. A wife: seine Frau, jemanden zur Frau nehmen.^[13][1]
3. The lady or mistress of a house: die Frau des Hauses.^[13]
4. Before a name or title, and in address: Mrs, Ms, madam: Frau Schulz, Frau Direktorin.^[13][1]
5. (dated) A lady, a woman of rank.^[1]

Word family

• Fräulein
• fraulich
• frauenhaft
• Frauchen
• Frauenzimmer
• Hausfrau
• Jungfrau
• Ehefrau

Related words

• Fron
• Fronleichnam
• Fürst
• für
• English frau

Usage notes

Die weise Frau was a dated name for a midwife.^[13] The lowercase pronoun frau, used in feminist writing instead of man when women are meant, is a modern coinage from the noun.^[13][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, Neubearbeitung (1965–2018), ed. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften and Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, 9 vols. (A–F), Leipzig / Stuttgart: Hirzel, p. 9, 885
3. ^ a b c d e f g Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 314
4. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
5. ^ a b c Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag, p. 285
6. ^ a b c Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 3, 597
7. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
8. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
9. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 115
10. ^ a b Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
11. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
14. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org