Antedating of "Ms."

[Ann Burlingham]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 12:54 PM, Benjamin
Zimmer<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Ms."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Quoting Randy Alexander:
>
>> On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 12:26 AM, Ann Burlingham wrote:
>> >> The OED's first use for the form of address "Ms." is from a Dec. 4, 1901
>> Iowa newspaper. Â The Iowa article is referring to prior usage in the
>> Springfield (Mass.) Republican. Â I have not yet traced the original
>> Springfield article, but I have found an earlier other newspaper reprinting
>> the Springfield article. Â In the Newspaperarchive database, the Salt Lake
>> Tribune, Nov. 17, 1901, p. 21, reprints the Springfield article, including
>> the use of the term "Ms."
>> >
>> > I'm surprised by this, though maybe I'm missing a nuance here, but I
>> > know I read Miss Manners, in her discussion of "Ms." referring to at
>> > least a century's-older usage.
>>
>> http://archive.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/07/27/ms/index.html
>>
>> "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. "
>>
>> A few other pages mention this (google: "sarah spooner" 1767 ms).
>> Some suggest it to be an isolated case, with no connection (through
>> continuity in use) with the 20th century.
>
> See also Dennis Baron's _Grammar and Gender_ (p. 167):
>
> "The title _Ms_ appears on the tombstone of Sarah Spooner, who died in 1767 in
> Plymouth, Massachusetts, but it is certainly an abbreviation of _Miss_ or
> _Mistress_, and not an example of colonial langurage reform or a slip of the
> chisel, as some have suggested."

Is Ms. not an abbreviation of "Mistress"?

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org