"Ms"

[James A. Landau]

Salon [on-line] Magazine 7-27-2000   Margot Mifflin "Who are you calling
'Ms.'?"

available at URL http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/07/27/ms/index.html

<quote>

They might be surprised to learn that modern feminists did not come up with
Ms. in the first place. The title's earliest documented appearance was on the
1767 tombstone of a Massachusetts woman named Sarah Spooner. Some scholars
have theorized that it was first used, like Miss and Mrs., as an abbreviation
for Mistress, a 14th century translation of the French maitresse (a term of
respect for women of prestige).
In the 17th century, Mrs. was used for adult women, married or not; Miss was
used for girls. Only in the late 18th century did these titles begin to
denote marital status, possibly as a result of the Industrial Revolution,
during which women began working outside the home, and needed their sexual
availability clarified.
Though Ms. has been attributed to first-wave feminism, its use and specific
meaning during the late 19th century are unclear. In the 1940s, however, it
was appearing in secretarial handbooks as a counterpart to Mr.

</quote>

    - Jim Landau