maîtresse French · revision 17662

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1180, Fierabras|origins=la magis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɛ.tʁɛs/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /me.tʁɛs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''maîtresse''' ''f'' (plural maîtresses, masculine maître)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|maistresse]] (12th century); ''maîtresse'' from the 16th century.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|maître|-esse]], the feminine of the word for master.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989) The masculine comes from [[la|magister|t=chief, master]], probably derived from [[m|la|magis|t=more]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Littré notes a 12th-century [[m|fro|maistriere]] for a woman with whom one has a love affair.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|maistra]], [[es|maestra]], [[pt|mestra]] and [[it|maestra]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ About 1180, in ''Fierabras'', it means a governess or duenna.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As the feminine of ''maître'' it took the corresponding senses, the mistress of a house or of servants, a schoolmistress, a woman who rules something.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi) In the 13th century it named the girl or woman one loves, so called because of the power she has over the man who loves her, and in 1357 the woman courted with a view to marriage, as in Corneille's ''Il faut venger un père et perdre une maîtresse''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) Brantôme notes that the word was not used in this sense in the time of Jean de Saintré.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ From Molière (1660) it means a woman who has a sexual relationship with a man outside marriage, the sense that has prevailed.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) Used as an adjective it means principal: ''idée maîtresse'' (1580), ''carte maîtresse''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 12th century – ''Maistresse''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * c. 1180 – A governess, in ''Fierabras''.^(TLFi)

+ * 13th century – The woman one loves, in Guillaume le Vinier.^(TLFi)

+ * 1357 – A woman courted for marriage.^(TLFi)

+ * 1580 – ''Idée maîtresse''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1660 – Molière: a lover outside marriage.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A woman who has authority: ''maîtresse de maison'', the [[m|en|hostess]] or lady of the house.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A female teacher in a primary school: ''maîtresse d'école''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A [[m|en|mistress]], a woman in a sexual relationship with a man to whom she is not married.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(archaic)'' The woman one loves and courts; a sweetheart.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Être maîtresse de soi'': to be in control of oneself.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Principal, chief: ''idée maîtresse'', ''poutre maîtresse''; at cards, ''carte maîtresse'', the winning card.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[maître]]

+ * [[maîtrise]]

+ * [[la|magister]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}