Mistress (Mrs.) – (n) The title of a woman who employs others or has authority over a household and servants.
God used this word 9 times in Scripture; all to Israel in their Masoretic Text Old Testament.
Originating in the 1300’s, the word Mistress is the feminine form of the masculine word Master. The abbreviation of Mistress is Mrs., as Mr.is the abbreviation of Master.
The title of Mr. and Mrs. are similar to the titles of King and Queen, Lord and Lady, Sir and Madam, Duke and Duchess, Governor and Governess, etc.
Mistress is a “Title” given to women who have authority over a household and servants; originally wives, female teachers, governesses, or supervisors of novices in a convent.
The title of Mistress (Mrs.) does not strictly denote a wife, but a wife is almost always the Mistress of the house. Whereas, a Concubine is almost never a Mistress; the exception being, if she has been given a separate residence to command.
In the early 1500’s the title of Mistress began to be corrupted. It was extended to include “A woman who has mastered an art or branch of study”. Today, these women are given the same titles as men that have the same mastery.
In the late 1500’s, the use of Mistress in poetry denoted “a woman who is beloved and courted, one who has command over a lover’s heart”. But the real definition never included any connotation to being loved or courted. The stretch of this usage is the “command” portion of the real definition, and the arena of command in poetry is the “heart”, which is not inferred anywhere in the real definition.
By the 1600’s, spawned by ignorance and driven by poetry, the title of Mistress was extended to include “A kept woman of a married man”.
Today it seems that everyone is in total ignorance. People commonly think that the title Mrs. simply means wife, and that a Mistress is a married man’s secret lover. Where, in fact, Mrs. is simply the abbreviation of Mistress.
See also Betrothed, Concubine, Endow, Husband, Master, Spouse, Virgin, Wife