Feminine words for occupations...

[neotoma]

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.

Comments

[mofic.livejournal.com]

"Actress" and "seamstress" are still often used.

"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.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

You are right, though I was thinking more about words that have the -ster construction.

[clara-swift.livejournal.com]

I wonder how spinster came to be the word for an old, unmarried lady.

Ah, Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinster) just explained!!!

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Industrialization lead to some strange language shifts, didn't it?

[mofic.livejournal.com]

Oh, well then I do think you're right that there aren't any that are used that way now. Really, of the ones you mentioned, only "spinster" is used at all in modern parlance, and it's not used for that meaning.

"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.

[the-little-owl.livejournal.com]

I would like to know if there's a difference between what you expect a seamtress to do in comparison to a tailor. Is a seamstress expected to sew, while a tailor does also design of chlothes or do these words have simply another origin and that's all?
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.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

For me, a seamstress deals mostly with women's clothes, can do alterations, and may also be a dressmaker (a slightly higher status term involving original design of dresses for customers). A tailor would also be able to do alterations, but deals mostly with men's clothes.

"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.

[the-little-owl.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I'll use the term "Head Dressmaker" then.