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English is a weird language. There are feminine words for some occupations, though they're so archaic that they are mainly used for surnames now.
The ones I can come up with easily are:
webster -- weaver
baxter -- baker
brewster -- brewer
spinster -- spinner
Are there others?
ETA: I was thinking about words with the -ster construction, though words with the -ess construction are equally valid.
The ones I can come up with easily are:
webster -- weaver
baxter -- baker
brewster -- brewer
spinster -- spinner
Are there others?
ETA: I was thinking about words with the -ster construction, though words with the -ess construction are equally valid.
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"Laundress" used to be a term for a woman who worked in a laundry.
Flight attendants used to be all women and were called "stewardesses" (There were stewards on ships).
Women who were doctors were called "lady doctors" well into the 1960s.
Some people say "Congresswoman" although I think "member of Congress" for both sexes is preferable.
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Ah, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinster) just explained!!!
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"Seamstress" is not a new word, but it's the newer form of "seamster". Once "ster" ceased to be the ending for "woman who", and "ess" became more common for female jobs, it morphed.
I actually think in current parlance "ster" has a masculine connotation because of the ending of "mister". Kids use that ending to mean "expert at" sometimes, but without the female connotation at all.
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I ask this question, because I'll have a seamstress in one of my stories, but she's more the boss of a wardrobe, where people are sitting and sewing too.
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"Tailored" usually implies closely fitted jackets and shirts typical of men's clothes, or women's clothes in a male style like suits and blazers.
Your character might be titled "Wardrobe Mistress" or "Head Dressmaker", depending on whether the clothes are primarily men's clothes, or women's clothes. I'd have to research to find out for different historical periods, but a woman in charge of a clothing workroom wouldn't simply be a seamstress.
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On the other hand, I sort of like "adventuress" -- must be my fondness for Sherlock Holmes stories.
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"Poetess (http://dictionary.laborlawtalk.com/poetess)" is another word (like "authoress") that I'd like to get rid of. Neither one is flattering toward the woman or her talent.
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Women experiencing life in it's highest highs and lowest lows, by doing things that would be perfectly permissible were they men - but are of course scandalous because they are of the fairer sex.
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Adventurer vs. adventuress
Gerry: I may not even get married again. I might become an adventuress.
Tom: I can just see you starting for China on a twenty-six foot sail boat.
Gerry: You're thinking of an adventurer, dear. An adventuress never goes on anything under three hundred feet with a crew of eighty.
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Re: Adventurer vs. adventuress
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I can make *lots* of words using Latin, some of them quite filthy. ;)
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Found this...
Lesson 150.
Ist, ster, ee, and ess, generally signify the person who, or thing which.
The last is an affix denoting the feminine gender.
aur'ist phys'i cist pi a'nist
tap'ster chor'is ter for'est er
grant ee' mort ga gee' as sign ee'
em'press shep'herd ess mar'chion ess
Dom signifies the office of or state of being; hood, the state of being;
ish, somewhat, like; and ism, the condition or doctrines of.
king'dom chris'ten dom hea'then dom
child'hood maid'en hood live'li hood
knav'ish yel'low ish a'gu ish
Bud'dhism Meth'od ism Mor'mon ism
But that suggests -ess as the common feminine form. The -ster words they give are neutral. See, you've got me interested now and trying to find more!
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I think "forester" is cheating, since it is from "forest". What makes it -ster and not simply -er according to the lesson?
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The only other trade name I can think of ending in "ster" is "maltster", but I think that can apply to either sex. Although come to think of it, what about "monster"?
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I remember being told that the words brewster, baxter and webster became surnames had to do with the wake of the Black Death, but I have no idea if that's true or not.
Monster is from monstrum, which is most definitely Latin and not Old English.
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To further muddy the waters, there's a small town in northern Scotland (I think) called Scrabster, but I've no idea where the name comes from. Probably another coincidence, like "monster".
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The spinsters and the knitters in the sun
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones
Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth,
And dallies with the innocence of love,
Like the old age.
(That's 'Come away, come away, death'.)
Took me until late adolescence to realise a 'spinster' spun things, with no reflection on marital status. Or sex. Though from what Orsino says about the song, it sounds as if he's referring to women exclusively.
I wonder what makes a 'knitter' different from someone who 'weave[s her] thread with bones'? That sounds like the knitting you do. (So of course I got curious, and before I ran out of steam found http://sca.livingpast.com/knit.html, which You probably know already.)
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Bone could be made into any number of weaving tools. But I think it refers to cardweaving (http://neotoma.livejournal.com/60167.html), as the cards were often made of bone.
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