Etymologically
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dame

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Pronunciation

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

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