[Ads-l] Antedating of "First Lady" (OED Sense 2)

[Jonathan Lighter]

I think there's a significant difference in nuance between 1861 "our first
lady" as the "pre-eminent woman of the land" and the current "first lady,"
fully lexicalized as "the wife of the president."

JL

On Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 6:40 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> First Lady (OED, 2., 1870)
>
> 1861 _Courier-Journal_ (Louisville) 27 Aug. 4/1 (Newspapers.com)  We are
> expecting Mrs. Lincoln here this week on her way to Long Branch. ... Our
> first lady will not suffer in the world's eye, because she is kind and
> courteous.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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