Frouwe

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Frouwe , derived from frô (= 'Herr', nhd . Frau , see Corpus Christi , 'Body of the Lord'; Frondienst 'Dienst für den Herr'), is the Middle High German term for a noble married woman and corresponded to the term 'Herrin', ,Lady'. A noble unmarried girl was a juncfrouwe (cf. Virgo ); an unmarried girl a maget (cf. maid ). The neutral term for members of the female sex was wîp (woman). The pejorative meaning of wife and the importance servant 'of maid developed only after women had taken over the function of neutral importance specified. In derivatives such as feminine , the neutral meaning of woman is still preserved today.

The old meaning of the word woman is also in the invocation of the Virgin Mary as Our Lady noticeably; see. also Frauenlob ( Vrowenlop ).

Numerous older place and plant names are derived from the genitive frouwen (for example Frauenchiemsee or Frauenschuh ).

In addition, loanwords in various languages ​​are derived from this term , for example the Finnish rouva or the Estonian proua .

literature

  • Otfrid-Reinald Ehrismann (with the assistance of Albrecht Classen and others): Ehre und Mut, Âventiure und Minne . Courtly word stories from the Middle Ages , Munich 1995, pages 228-238 (chapter “ vrouwe and wîp . The courtly lady”) ISBN 3-406-39882-0 .
  • Walther Albrecht Kotzenberg: man, frouwe, juncfrouwe. Three chapters from the Middle High German word history , (= Berlin contributions to Germanic and Romance philology; Volume 33; Germanic Department; Volume 20), Berlin 1907.
  • Erika Ludwig: Wip and frouwe. History of words and concepts in lyric poetry of the 12th and 13th centuries , (= Tübingen Germanic works; Volume 24), (also Tübingen, Phil. Diss. From June 1, 1937), Stuttgart / Berlin 1937.
  • Judith J. Wittmann: A semantic study of five words for "girl" and "woman" from Wulfila through Luther , (Diss. University of Colorado), Boulder 1982.