dame

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dam/^[1]

Forms

dame f (plural dames)^[1] Old French dama (about 1050), then dame, dome is also found.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin domina (“mistress of the house; wife; mistress; sovereign”), contracted to domna by the 1st century, the feminine of dominus (“master”), from domus (“house”).^{[2][3][5][1][6]} The vowel ⟨a⟩ for Latin ⟨o⟩ is explained by the word's frequent unstressed use before names, as a title.^[2][5][7] The Petit Robert traces “domus” to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *dem- (“house; to build”).^[8]

Cognate with Romanian doamnă, Italian donna, Occitan dona, Catalan dona, Spanish dueña and Portuguese dona.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Life of Saint Alexis (about 1050) dama is the title of a married woman of high rank; the Chanson de Roland says of Roland that pur sa bealté dames lui sont amies.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages, and still in the 17th century, dame was the wife of a noble, while a bourgeois wife was called demoiselle; the feudal sense parallels that of Latin dominus, which in Merovingian and Carolingian Gaul meant the lord of a fief.^[3][5] It also meant a wife (Chrétien de Troyes, about 1175) and, in courtly language, the lady one loves (late 12th century), as in la dame de ses pensées.^[2][3] From about 1200 it was applied to women outside the nobility, a use that spread in the 16th century as a polite word for femme.^[2][3][5]

Notre Dame, the Virgin, dates from about 1220, and abstractions were personified as damme Théologie (13th century).^[2] In games, the queen at chess and cards and the crowned piece in draughts gave jeu de dames (1508), damer (1562) and damer le pion (1688).^[2][3][5] The interjection dame! (Molière, 1665) comes from par Notre Dame or from Damedieu “Lord God”; it was still common in the country in the 19th century and survives in Brittany.^[2][3][5]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Dama, Life of Saint Alexis.^[2]
• c. 1175 – “Wife”, Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• Late 12th century – The beloved lady, in courtly lyric.^[2]
• c. 1220 – Nostre Dame, Gautier de Coinci.^[2]
• 1508 – Jeu des dames.^[2]
• 1562 – Damer.^[5]
• 1665 – The interjection dame!, Molière.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lady: a woman, especially a married one; politely, any woman: une vieille dame, le coiffeur pour dames.^[1][8]
2. (historical) A noblewoman; the lady of a manor; a lady loved by a knight.^[9][3]
3. Notre-Dame: the Virgin Mary.^[2][1]
4. (chess, cards) The queen.^[1]
5. (plural) draughts, checkers: jouer aux dames, (singular) a king in draughts.^[1][3]

Interjection

1. (dated, regional) Dame!, dame oui!: why yes!, well!^[8][3]

Word family

• madame
• damer
• damier
• dameret

Related words

• demoiselle
• dom
• Latin domina

Usage notes

A separate dame “dike, dam” (1270, dam, damp in the 15th century) is borrowed from Dutch dam.^[10][11]

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 h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 123b
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 53a