dcnovice
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AquaticSub
quote:
ORIGINAL: Archer
Well if you search the history of usage you'll find it was a respectfull term before it became a term of derission. It's come full circle it seems.
Think Shakespeare and how it was used in his works.
I do wonder the opposite how it came to mean "The other Woman".
Yup. "Mistress of the Castle" or "Mistress of the house". I really would like to know how it came to mean the other woman as well. Maybe it was used as a mockery of them since they aren't actually mistress of the house?
From Common Courtesy by Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners):
In contemporary America, there is still some bitter opposition to the title "Ms," although it is in the best evolutionary tradition, deriving, as did "Miss" and "Mrs.," from the Elizabethan title "Mistress," which, before it took on a racy meaning, had the same function as "Ms." today. When the title was divided to distinguish marital status ("Mrs." being used properly only with the husband's names, and never the wife's given name), there ceased to be any correct way of addressing a married woman in a professional context. Such a person was not supposed to exist. Mistress Nell Quickly, the well-known businesswoman, had no such problem when she became Mistress Pistol.
. . .
The female equivalent of "Mr.," as in "Mr. President" or "Mr. Justice," is "Madam," as respectable a word as "mistress" used to be. (One wonders why professionally useful female titles always seem to pick up dirty connotations.)
I know this doesn't exactly answer the question, but I thought it was interesting, particularly the bit in parentheses.
_____________________________
No matter how cynical you become,
it's never enough to keep up.
JANE WAGNER, THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF
INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
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"Mistress"- Odd usage? - 
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