Thank you for the lesson in Norman French.
It's just French... it's only the Normans who got to us... but then we took over a third of France a few centuries later. In fact, it's said that Richard the Lionheart barely spoke English at all...
So.......how do you explain MRS (Mistress abbreviated) as the title for married women?
Not power per se, more a mark of respect.
Incidentally, at my very correct school in England, the French mistress was known as Madame..........
She is the mistress of her household. That's why, in the UK, only nobility get referred to as ma'am (shortened form of Madam = Madame = My Lady), unless you want to mock them by inferring that she has designs above her station, in which case it's "she's a right little madam"... highly ironic then, the favoured phrase of maids here...
Anyhow, in France, it's slightly different, in that people don't call each other Mister or Mistress, but Monsieur (translates as My Sir/ Sire) or Madame (My Lady, as discussed)...
The difference harks back, again, to the fact that the invaders who became the English nobility actually weren't that posh, but to the native Brits, sounded so... exotic. The meat-words are testimony to that really... In French it'd be "ah, je veux manger du mouton!" which the direct English translation would be "ah, I want to eat some sheep"... but to the up'n'coming masses it transformed into a word disassociated with the actual farm animal.
Thank you for the lesson in Norman French.
So.......how do you explain MRS (Mistress abbreviated) as the title for married women?
Not power per se, more a mark of respect.
Incidentally, at my very correct school in England, the French mistress was known as Madame..........
She is the mistress of her household. That's why, in the UK, only nobility get referred to as ma'am (shortened form of Madam = Madame = My Lady), unless you want to mock them by inferring that she has designs above her station, in which case it's "she's a right little madam"... highly ironic then, the favoured phrase of maids here...
Anyhow, in France, it's slightly different, in that people don't call each other Mister or Mistress, but Monsieur (translates as My Sir/ Sire) or Madame (My Lady, as discussed)...
The difference harks back, again, to the fact that the invaders who became the English nobility actually weren't that posh, but to the native Brits, sounded so... exotic. The meat-words are testimony to that really... In French it'd be "ah, je veux manger du mouton!" which the direct English translation would be "ah, I want to eat some sheep"... but to the up'n'coming masses it transformed into a word disassociated with the actual farm animal.
So.......how do you explain MRS (Mistress abbreviated) as the title for married women?
Not power per se, more a mark of respect.
Incidentally, at my very correct school in England, the French mistress was known as Madame..........
no... the French is the feminine form of "master" - as in master of the house, school master, etc..., which is "maitre"... so "maitresse", or "mistress" in English (which has French roots due to the fact that the Normans conquered us in 1066 and so most of the nobility was French, or at least spoke fluent french, so by consequence, French words were considered rather swish and entered common English language (just like "beef" (=boeuf), p0rk (=porc) and mutton (=mouton)...)
So mistress is just the female master... nothing kinky! lol
Isn't that wot I said?
Kind of!
Madame is actually "My Lady", which is I guess the sign of respect, whereas Maitresse has a connotation of power.
no... the French is the feminine form of "master" - as in master of the house, school master, etc..., which is "maitre"... so "maitresse", or "mistress" in English (which has French roots due to the fact that the Normans conquered us in 1066 and so most of the nobility was French, or at least spoke fluent french, so by consequence, French words were considered rather swish and entered common English language (just like "beef" (=boeuf), p0rk (=porc) and mutton (=mouton)...)
So mistress is just the female master... nothing kinky! lol
Isn't that wot I said?
no... the French is the feminine form of "master" - as in master of the house, school master, etc..., which is "maitre"... so "maitresse", or "mistress" in English (which has French roots due to the fact that the Normans conquered us in 1066 and so most of the nobility was French, or at least spoke fluent french, so by consequence, French words were considered rather swish and entered common English language (just like "beef" (=boeuf), p0rk (=porc) and mutton (=mouton)...)
So mistress is just the female master... nothing kinky! lol
Yes but you wouldn't say the French Mistress though. You would say French teacher. Mistress tends to be used on its own in English and is not very common nowadays:
Mrs is short for.................Mistress. A term of respect for a married woman, or a woman in a position of respect.
And it means the same as Madame................which in English has equally risque connotations.
<em>edited by Livelytrish on 13/04/2011</em>
Yes but you wouldn't say the French Mistress though. You would say French teacher. Mistress tends to be used on its own in English and is not very common nowadays:
LOL go and read her description - she's French, schoolmistress in it's origin is French. She's worked as a teacher and has many years experience.
Just people dirty minds reading more into it, than there actually is.
My own apologies then and ... what is the origin of school mistress then?
The definition of 'schoolmistress' is someone who literally teaches school! Usually the term is used for those who work in boarding schools.
Yes but you wouldn't say the French Mistress though. You would say French teacher. Mistress tends to be used on its own in English and is not very common nowadays:
er in some stricter schools the teachers are known as Mistresses - so no it's not a fault in translation. Where do you think the term 'school mistress' comes from?
<em>edited by Chocs01 on 13/04/2011</em>
Some straight translations are really not working lol
http://dubai.dubizzle.com/jobs/education/2011/3/25/maitresse-de-francais-2/?back=am9icy9lZHVjYXRpb24v&ps=2&page=2&keywords=+french