Etymologically
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madonna

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Pronunciation

  • /məˈdɒnə/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian madonna (“my lady”),[2][3][4][5] from Old Italian ma donna, recorded in the 13th century,[2][3][6] from ma, an old unstressed form of mia (“my”),[2][5][7] from Latin mea,[5][8][6] and donna (“lady”), from Latin domina (“lady, mistress of the house”),[5][3][4] from domus (“house”),[3][8] from Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“house, household”).[3] It corresponds to French madame, the source of madam.[2][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A respectful form of address to an Italian woman, "my lady": 1584, in Robert Wilson's play Three Ladies of London.[2][10][8]

Semantic evolution

In the early 17th century it also meant an Italian woman, and in extended use a loose or flirtatious woman, a sense that died out after 1709.[2][3] In Italian the word was often used specifically of the Virgin Mary, and in English it first referred to pictures and statues of her:[3][2] Barnhart cites Evelyn's diary (1644) for a wall painting of the Virgin,[8] and the OED's first quotation is from J. Raymond's travels in Italy (1648).[2] The French madone had the same sense from about 1642.[2] From 1829 to 1849 the word was also used of a hairstyle parted in the centre and smoothed down on each side, as in Italian paintings of the Virgin,[2][5] and it served as an exclamation from 1830.[2] D. H. Lawrence applied it to a woman seen as resembling the Virgin, especially in purity.[2]

Timeline

  • 1584 – a respectful form of address to an Italian woman.[2][10]
  • 1602 – an Italian woman; also a loose woman (obsolete by 1709).[2]
  • 1644 – a painting of the Virgin Mary, in Evelyn's diary.[8]
  • 1648 – a picture or statue of the Virgin; the Virgin Mary.[2]
  • 1829 – a hairstyle parted in the centre (until 1849).[2]
  • 1830 – an exclamation of surprise.[2]
  • before 1930 – a woman likened to the Virgin.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (usually capitalized; often the Madonna) The Virgin Mary.
  2. A picture or statue of the Virgin Mary: The chapel held a carved wooden madonna.
  3. A woman regarded as resembling the Virgin Mary, especially in chastity.
  4. (archaic) My lady: a respectful form of address to an Italian woman.
  5. (attributive) Of a woman's hairstyle, drawn back smoothly from a centre parting.

Usage notes

In the senses relating to the Virgin the word is usually written with a capital, but a picture or statue may be a madonna.[11][5] The Madonna lily is a white Mediterranean lily traditionally linked with the Virgin as a symbol of purity.[11][5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins