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Archiver > CARIBBEAN > 1999-09 > 0936365582


From: "Ernest M. Wiltshire" <>
Subject: [CARIBBEAN] Re: Mistress vs. Madame
Date: 3 Sep 1999 08:33:02 -0500


First of all, in previous centuries, the word "Mistress" was long a term of
polite address in English, used for both married & unmarried women, (it can
still be heard in Barbados; it often it indicates a class distinction, such as
a servant addressing an employer). A similar expression still heard in Barbados
today is "My lady" or "My gentleman,( yuh want to buy some nice sugar cakes?)"
I believe that the French : "maitresse" was also used in the same way in the
West Indies; I certainly remember hearing that usage in Martinique & Guadeloupe
when I was a child.
It would appear from what you say that the couple mentioned in your will were
once married, but legally separated or divorced.
The word "Madame" in French is used to address both married women, & women who
are divorced or separated and who have resumed their maiden name; it is of
course also applied to widows, and to single women who are, as the French would
say, "of a certain age"!
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Ernest M. Wiltshire / Friends of the Barbados Archives
38 Inglewood Place, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y 4C7
Tel & Fax: 613-729-0982 e-mail:
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