Mistress (form of address)
Old form of address for a woman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mistress is an old form of address for a woman. It was used as a title of respect for women of authority, respect, or social status.[1] The title did not necessarily distinguish between married and unmarried women.[2] The titles Mrs., Miss and Ms. are abbreviations derived from Mistress.[2] The word mistress comes from the Anglo-Norman and Middle French maistresse, which itself derives from a combination of maistre, meaning master, and the suffix -esse.[1]
Mastress is an obsolete form.[3][4][5]
An example is Mistress Quickly in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.
