Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1885-10-26
MR., MRS. AND MISS.
A FEW HISTORICAL REMARKS UPON
THESE EVERYDAY TITLES.
How, in Early Times, Plain John Smith
Became 'sfaistre" and His wife
"nTaistress' = Corruption OF
the Once Honored Term.
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Not only in our country. but apparently
with all modern peoples. the habit has arisen
and become permanent and every day
custom Of appropriating what were form
erly definite titles Of high distinction. and
making them absolutely meaningless by
lacking them TO the name OF every obscure
individual Does not, for instance, every
German butcher and baker expect to DO
dubbed "herr' or "lordi" 1t is the same,
too, both with the monsieur" Of the French
man, and the "signorn and the "senor' Of
the Italian and Spaniard. In actual CONVEX
sation we are less assuming than our
neighbors, and do not require to be spoken
Of as Esquire Smith or Lord Jones, being
quite contented with plain mister" be-
fore our names but we are quite apt to
feel sighted and offended IL the ESQ.,
should be omitted nfter our names on the
envelopes which contain our correspond
ence. The history OF those everyday
titles Of Mr.. and Mrs, which are now the
common property of evory one, or, at any
rate, seem to be supposed TO be 80, Is not
without interest, though In some OF its
steps IL is a little obscure, and few re-
marks upon it may not be out of place
here.
In tho earlier times of our history the
ordinary man was simply William or John;
that Is to say, he had merely a Christian
name, without any kind Of ''handle" before
1t or surname after it. Into the question
Of surnames we do not propose to enter
here. Suffice 1t to say that as some further
means of distinguishing one John or one
William from another John or another
William were found. in process Of time, to
be necessary, names, generally nicknames,
derived from a mans trade, or from his
dwelling place, or from some personal Pc
culiarity, were tackled on to their Christian
names, and plain John became John Smith
As yet there were no "Misters" in the land
Some John Smith accumulated more
wealth than the bull Of his fell
lows-became, perhaps q landed pro-
prietor. or an employer of hired
labor. Then he began to be called In
the Norman French Of the day, the "Mais-
tire" OF this place or Of that of these work
men or OF those. In time the "Maistre,' or
"Maistsr," as it soon became, got tackled on
before his name, and he became Maister
Smith, and his wife was Maistress Smith.
But 1t was only persons who had notable
position in place, and who actually were
"masters" or something or other hey nd the
ordinary domestic chattles, who were thus
sense of pos session was lost sight OF, and the
title was conferred upon any man who had
attained social distinction OF any kind,
whether by wealth, or by holding some pc.
sition Of more or less consideration and i'm
portance.
For long series Of years, however, no
one was called 1Maister," or master" Unto
which "Maister1 got transformedD, unless he
was distinctly in position superior TO that
OF the great bulk OF his fellow country men,
and wal really, In one sense or another, a
master and it is only within comparatively
modern times that the term came to be con-
sidered an almost Indispensable adjunct to
ones name when mentioned in ordinary
convers alton or writing. Maistress Smith
soon became Mistress Smith. Exactly how
and when the term got. corrupted can not
be said. Master Smith, however, remained
Master Smith long after his wife became
Mistress Smith.
The first -ise of "Mister" is difficult 10
trace 1t is certain, however, that 1t is
use OF by no means long standing. The con-
traction "Mr." appears on the title-page Of
the first folio edition of Shakespeare, but it
would probably have have been road as
"Master" at the time Of its publication. 1t Is
likely, indeed, that it was not till long after
Shakespeare day that the influences of the
corresponding for of mistress was able 10
turn the a of the old-fashioned master
into OF the mister of our own times,
though we still retain the old word for the
service Of our children, and to-day Master
Smith ia no longer the head Of the house
hold, but his little son.
We find an example OF the old use Of the
word still surviving in England in the mas
ters Of the supreme court, officials ranking
Immediately below her MAZE ty's juisoL
and it is occasionally amusing to q stranger
to hear grave and gray-haireiold gsntls.
man referred to as Master Jone. A soma
what similar instance IA still to be found in
France, where tho title usually given advo-
Gates and notaries is "Maitre."
Not only, however, was John Smiths wife
known as Mistress Smith, but his grown up
unmarried daughters were equally called
Mistress, with tie addition of their Chris
tisn name, for distinctions sake. IL such
were necessary. Nor did this use OF Mis-
tress give place to our modern form of
i'Miss" till after the lapse Of considerable
portion Of the last century. The worl
"Miss" was certainly used before that tins,
but not indeed, very long before. At the
beginning OF the last century 1t was appro-
priated to the daughters Of gentlemen under
the age of 10, or given slightly to giddy
young ladies, or TO those to whom we should
apply the modern term of "fast."
II Is only within moderately recent times
that 1t has become the property OF unmar-
ried ladies, whatever be their age As to
the derivation OF the word "Miss,p it seems
clear that 1t Is not obtained b, curtailing
AMi.tress" Of its last syllable, but rather to
have arisen from the custom OF abbreviat-
ing that word into Miss. Probably too,
our modern Missis or Mrs. Is to be ac-
counted for by an attempt to give definite
sound TO this abbreviated form. At any
rate the present writer Is unable, after con-
siderable investigation OF the matter, TO
offer any other suggestion, or To discover
that any other one has been offered by any
other writer.
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