Etymologically
Log in

demoiselle

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the French word demoiselle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
881 Sequence of Saint Eulalia More words from the 9th century
Inherited from
Latin *domnicella via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin domina
Derivations

Pronunciation

  • /də.mwa.zɛl/[1]

Forms

demoiselle f (plural demoiselles)[1] Old French domnizelle (881), damisele (about 1080), dameisele and damoiselle (12th–13th century); demoiselle is found about 1283 in Beaumanoir.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French damisele, inherited from Vulgar Latin *domnicella, a contracted form of *dominicella, diminutive of Latin domina (“mistress”).[5][6][3][7] Rey and Bloch and Wartburg call it a purely Gallo-Romance word.[3][7] A more contracted form gave Old Occitan donsela, the source of donzelle, and Italian donzella and Spanish doncella correspond to it.[3][7][8] The masculine counterpart is damoiseau.[7]

The Old French word was borrowed into Italian as damigella, and English damsel is an older borrowing of it.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as domnizelle in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia (881), meaning a young girl of noble birth: La domnizelle celle kose non contredist “the maiden did not refuse that”.[5][4] The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) calls Aude la bele damisele.[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the end of the 18th century the word meant a noble girl or a married woman of the lesser nobility, as in Molière's une femme demoiselle, and was then extended to women of the bourgeoisie.[3][7] As dame and madame took over these uses, it came to mean an unmarried woman (1690, Furetière), at first only one of some standing.[3][5] In the classical period it also named a girl in a lady's service, then a girl attached to a queen and, in the 19th century, a bride's companion (demoiselle d'honneur).[3][10] From 1825 (demoiselle de boutique) it was used of a woman employed in a shop or office, as in demoiselle du téléphone (1905).[3][5][11]

By likeness it named a paver's rammer (1630), a bed warmer (1690), the Numidian crane and the dragonfly (both 1680, Richelet), and regionally a bottle of wine (Normandy, 1855) or the carcass of a goose or duck (south-west France, 1928).[3][5] The title mademoiselle grew out of ma demoiselle in the 15th and 16th centuries.[3][7] English borrowed demoiselle in the 1510s.[9]

Timeline

  • 881 – Domnizelle appears in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia.[5][3]
  • c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland has damisele.[5]
  • First half of the 13th century – It is used of a married woman of the lesser nobility or the bourgeoisie.[5]
  • c. 1283 – Beaumanoir writes demoiselle.[2]
  • 1510s – English borrows demoiselle.[9]
  • 1630 – It names a paver's rammer.[5][3]
  • 1680 – Richelet records the senses “dragonfly” and “crane”.[5]
  • 1690 – Furetière records the sense “unmarried woman”.[5][3]
  • 1825 – Demoiselle de boutique appears in Brillat-Savarin.[5][11]
  • 1905 – Demoiselle du téléphone is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (historical) Until the 18th century, a girl of noble birth or a married woman of the lesser nobility.[10][5][4]
  2. An unmarried woman: elle est restée demoiselle.[10][4]
  3. (polite or ironic) A young girl.[10]
  4. (regional) Votre demoiselle: your daughter.[10]
  5. Demoiselle d'honneur: a girl attached to a queen, and now a bridesmaid.[10][3]
  6. (dated) A woman employed in a shop or office: demoiselle de magasin, also demoiselle du téléphone.[10][3]
  7. A damselfly, and loosely a dragonfly.[10][1]
  8. Demoiselle de Numidie: the demoiselle crane.[10][3]
  9. (technical) A paver's rammer, also called hie.[10][5]
  10. (technical) A turned wooden tool used to open the fingers of new gloves.[10]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 133a
  7. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Demoiselle.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/demoiselle. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·