donna

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian donna (“lady”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin domina (“lady, mistress”),^[2][3][4][5] the feminine of dominus (“lord, master”),^[7][8][9][6] and Etymonline traces the Latin noun to domus (“house”), from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“house, household”).^[10] The Chambers Dictionary labels the English word as from Spanish.^[11] Dona, the Spanish and Portuguese title, is a separate borrowing from the same Latin noun.^[12][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A lady; a title of courtesy for an Italian lady: the OED's first record is from 1670, in a new edition of Lassels's Voyage of Italy.^[2] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1660s,^[10][4] the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English to the early 17th century,^[12][9] and Merriam-Webster to 1738.^[13]

Semantic evolution

It is used as a title before the given name,^[2][12] and Merriam-Webster limits this use especially to a married woman of rank.^[13] The OED and the Shorter Oxford also allow it for a Spanish or Portuguese lady, in place of doña or dona,^[2][12] and Etymonline speaks of Italian and Portuguese ladies.^[10] The compound prima donna, "first lady", is the principal female singer in an opera, recorded by the OED from 1754 and by Etymonline from 1782.^[2][10] In Polari and British slang from 1844 dona, also spelled donna and donah, meant a woman, ultimately from the Italian word,^[14] and Partridge notes the Australian slang donah.^[15]

Timeline

• 1670 – a lady; a title of courtesy for an Italian lady, or instead of doña or dona for a Spanish or Portuguese one.^[2]
• 1754 – in prima donna, a principal female singer in an opera.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An Italian lady; used as a title of respect before her given name, especially for a married woman of rank: Donna Lucia received the visitors in the garden.^[13][7][2]
2. A Spanish or Portuguese lady, used instead of doña or dona.^[2][12]

Word family

• prima donna

Related words

• dame
• don
• dona
• duenna
• domina
• madonna

Usage notes

The plural is donne.^[13] Donna as a woman's given name is a separate use taken from the Italian common noun: Hanks and Hodges say it was not found before the 1920s and was often used as a feminine form of Donald,^[16] and Etymonline records it among the top 20 names for girls born in the United States from 1941 to 1967.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
12. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
14. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
15. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
16. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hodges, Flavia (2002), "A Dictionary of First Names", in The Oxford Names Companion, Oxford: Oxford University Press