Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Teacher, Teacher
Maîtresse (meh-tress = teacher or mistress)
Over the holidays I had an interesting conversation with someone on the topic of adultery as seen by the French. Noooooo, I'm not going to talk about that here . . .
BUT remark, if you will, that the French word for "mistress" is the same as the word for "teacher". Children all over France use the word as a respectful way to address their (of course, female) teachers. Men use it too . . .
In the XIIth century the word was synonymous with a young lady's chaperone. It evolved to mean "a woman loved by someone, so called because of the power she has over her beloved". In the XVIIth century we find a published reference to its more modern meaning in one of Molière's plays "Sganarelle or the Imaginary Cuckold" in which a man wrongly believes his wife is cheating on him.
I guess that last meaning stuck like a scarlet letter . . . . .
Over the holidays I had an interesting conversation with someone on the topic of adultery as seen by the French. Noooooo, I'm not going to talk about that here . . .
BUT remark, if you will, that the French word for "mistress" is the same as the word for "teacher". Children all over France use the word as a respectful way to address their (of course, female) teachers. Men use it too . . .
In the XIIth century the word was synonymous with a young lady's chaperone. It evolved to mean "a woman loved by someone, so called because of the power she has over her beloved". In the XVIIth century we find a published reference to its more modern meaning in one of Molière's plays "Sganarelle or the Imaginary Cuckold" in which a man wrongly believes his wife is cheating on him.
I guess that last meaning stuck like a scarlet letter . . . . .
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