The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1877-12-27
Two Dollars a -
COmPiimen nfary TITLES Ina Society
and Every Day Eife.


and signifies the "bond of the house, J"
or ''family house bond" as by him the
family is formed, united and bound to-
gether, and on his death is disunited and
scattered. Hence we account for farm
ers and petty land holders being GIilll> y.
as early as the twelfth cent. W. -
bands" as appears in d statute OF 0a7ro
H., king of Scotland. This etymology
of the word appears palmer i'll the or
biography of the thirteenth and four
teenth centuries, in which the word is of
ten found written "house- bond"
The words ''bacheIor" and "girl," the
first of which, being formerly held as
synonymous with ''young man. or
sweetheart" may be regarded as the
parallel and corresponding term to the
other. 1t may not be regarded as a very
fattering circumstance, but it is never
theless, true, that the etymology of each
of these terms leaves us, in tracing their
derivations, to conclude that for the lat
ter we must choose between the Saxon
word carl or churt and the Latin word
qarraLa, garrulous female. If the lat
ter of these derivations be correct, we
shall say in this case that the term girl
has departed much from its original sig
MITIGATION.
AS for bachelors. etymologY is still less
kind, andt51till less decisive with respect
to the mead Yng of their distinctive des-
ignation,. ! One philologist refers the
term to Greek word, plainly signifying
foolish, which another derives it from
bas chievalier (French), a knight of the
meanest grade. By some the word is
traced to the Latin bdculuS Ca staff, be-
cause bachelors in their old age have
nothing but a stick or cane to lean upon;
and, lastly, the worthy commentator and
improver upon johnson, Mr. II. P. Todd,
believes ''the most probable derivation
to be from bacca Taurus, the berry of
laurel or bay; bachelors being young,
and of good hopes, like laurels in the
the berry" While duly considering
each of these theories, reader will
probably conclude that thesFrench deri-
vation of bas clieUalier is, after all, the
true original of bachelor. Gentlemen
of that class in society may, it is true,
defend their position with the pertinent
argument that vast change has taken
place in the significance of terms. In
the seventeenth century the term "Miss, "
as applied to the gentle sex, was con-
sidered a word of reproach. Miss Cross,
who is particularly mentioned in Haynes
Epilouge to Farquhar's Glove in a Bat
tle," about 1882, was the first actress
announced as Miss.
The words "sir" and madame" are
derived by Muller from the Latin through
the Norman, madame being a corruption
of the Latin mea dominia (my mistress)
and seur a corruption of senior-a trans
lation of the German elder. Domino il
defined in Leverett's Latin-English Lex
icon thus: "Domina, mistress. lady
| This was a title of the Roman ladies from
their fourteenth year." In Riddle &
Arnold's English Latin Lexicon we finr
F'madame" and "miss" defined in LatiI
thus: MADAME, domina, miss, as &
title of respects Of an unmarried lady
domina." Upon these authorities it i
argued as proper to regard madame as
correct term to be used in addressing un
married ladies as well as those who ar,
married. In this connection we find, il
Spier's & Surrenne's French dictionary
that "madam" is given as definition il
! ERlish Of both I{adame -,G laademoi
| seize in French. Thus, Madame
madam, mistress, my lady. Mademoi
selle, miss, madame.
IN Nugents French dietiQ4F49sFsriz55 Q4F49sFsr5 the the
are giVene .ds: "Madame, my lady
/ lady, ladys lip, madam, mistress. Made
moiselie, madam, miss" Mademoisell
being The peculiar title of young unmar
ried ladies in French, and madam bein.
given as its equaIent or definition in Eng
lish equally with miss, it seems proper t,
address a young unmarried lady al
madam" since madam in Englisl
| has the same sense as mademoiselle il
French.
In the English dictionaries the worC
'madam" s defined as follows; In John
SON" Madam, the term of compliment
4 use6S - address to ladies of every degree.
IN Ash e Madam, a complimental ad
1 dress % ladies' Of every degree the com
mon title Of ladies'" In Worcester
Madam, d term of compliment used il
address to a geutle-w0man title give
to a Tsspectabie elderly LADY, also, T.
ladies 0tevery degree. Madame, madam
ladyship a tl.le of respect foy marrie'
lady" Websrar defines it thus. MAD
am, an appellstIOn of complimentary,
title given to married and elderly ladies
or chiefly to them" In the later edition
we find the following modification
" Madam, the same as. madame Mad
anne, my lady; gentlewoman, compli
mentary or courteous form of address y
a lady, especially an elderly or married
lady"
The appellation of "grass widow i
said to be of French origin, from th'
French Grace, implying a widow by cour
tesy. The word ''fiirt is said to emanat,
from the French naafeugette (my littl
fower), term applied to their young
lady friends by the gallants of Loui
XIV's court. The title Lady is derived
from the Anglo Saxon, and LITERAL,
means, "giver of bread" Formerly, i
was maxim that a young woman SHOULD
never be married until she has spun her
self set of body, table and bed linen
From this custom all Unmarried womer
were termed "spinsters."
The term "bue-stocking" is often ap
piled to class of literary pretensions
but originally it was conferred on sooie
ty of literary persons of both sexes il
England, organized in 1850. The so
ciety derived its name from the blu
worsted stockings always worn by Ben
jamin Stillingaeet, a distinguished writer
who was one of the most active pro
moters of the association. This term wa
subsequently conferred on literary ladies
from the fact that the accomplished an
fascinating Mrs. birmingham wore blu
stockings at the social and literary Ell
tainments given by the celebrated Lad
Mary Montagu.
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The Methodist Church South.