Hubby and Hussy - Pejoration with a touch of Sexism 03

Still going on about pejoration...

Pejoration is a downgrading of the meaning of a word. The word was once neutral in meaning, but along the history, it went down the hill. And on this blog I am picking up words that refer to women which have undergone pejoration (contrasting it with the counterpart male words). So far, master and mistress and bachelor and spinster.

This time, hubby and hussy.

These two words are both short form of husband and housewife. Here are the definitions from OED.

hubby : (informal) a husband.  Origin late 17th century, familiar abbreviation

hussy : impudent or immoral girl or woman.  'that brazen little hussy!'
from Middle English, contraction for 'housewife' (the original sense); the current sense dates from the mid 17th century.

And look at this list of synonyms for hussy...

adulteress, fornicatress, loose woman, strumpet, trollop, slut, jade...

All the insulting words to call a woman are here, and no trace of the original meaning. Both hubby and hussy started off as contractions for longer words, but why?! Why did only 'hussy' become a victim of pejoration?! What happened in the mid 17th century? Does execution of Charles I (1649) and the rise of the Commonwealth have anything to do with this? A voice from a historian on this matter is very welcome.

Bachelor and Spinster - Pejoration with a touch of sexism 02

I remember learning in my English classes in primary school the different nouns for male and female of the same jobs or status; actor - actress, duke - duchess, master - mistress, bachelor - spinster, etc.

Later, I learnt that after your undergraduate studies, you get your bachelor's degree, and your graduate studies, your master's; and both degrees happen to be called by nouns which also refer to male status.

In my very naiive innocent mind, I wondered why when woman finishes her undergraduate or graduate studies, she is not awarded spinster's or mistress' degree. Forgive me, I was only 9 or 10.

Looking up the word 'bachelor' in the dictionary of etymology, there are definitions as follows:
1. (a 1300) a young knight, a young man
2. (a 1300) an unmarried man
3. (a 1376) a degree, a person who has been awarded a degree by a college or a university.
4. (1418 - 1809) a young member of the guild

I looked up the female equivalent, spinster.
1. (a 1376) a woman who spins wool
2. (1380) an unmarried woman
3. (1636) a spider
4. (1719) an unmarried woman who has passed the age of marrying and is unlikely to get married. Old maid.

Clearly, 'spinster' had undergone pejoration. The Oxford American Dictionary admits in its definition that it is derogatory.

First the word referred to a job, a person who spins. Long before the Industrial Revolution, spinning wool was a common job for an unmarried woman, so the job also denoted a single young woman. It was used in legal documents too. However, around late 18th century, the definition started o include older unmarried women or women who chose not o marry, and today only the most lately added meaning survives.

The word 'spinster' does not carry the neutral sense anymore...

Bachelor party sounds all wonderful and exciting, but how about 'spinster party'? What would you imagine from here? Moans, cries, grudges...

Language sexism...