{"id":12668,"date":"2021-02-18T15:00:37","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12668"},"modified":"2021-02-18T15:03:32","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T15:03:32","slug":"how-the-german-word-frauleindisappeared","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/how-the-german-word-frauleindisappeared\/","title":{"rendered":"How the German Word “Fr\u00e4ulein” Disappeared"},"content":{"rendered":"

Language moves and evolves, often along the lines of what a culture still deems acceptable or not. German is not immune to this, of course, and this week marked the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of a belittling word: Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em>. A “little woman”. It disappeared in legal ways, at least. That doesn’t mean you won’t ever hear it anymore. What is a Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em>, what was and is its meaning in German, and how was it banned?<\/p>\n

What is a Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em>?<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Fr\u00e4ulein<\/a>

Fr\u00e4ulein gesucht<\/em>! Job advert for a nanny from 1910 (Image by Bartleby08 at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 4.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

A\u00a0Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em> is, literally translated, a “little woman”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The word das Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em> is quite obviously a derivative of the German word for woman:\u00a0die Frau<\/em>. Belittling of a word in German<\/a><\/strong> comes with the ending -chen\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0-lein<\/em>. For example: das M\u00e4dchen<\/em> (the girl) and\u00a0das F\u00e4hnlein\u00a0<\/em>(the little flag). So that’s how Fr\u00e4ulein <\/em>simply means “little woman”.<\/p>\n

Interestingly,\u00a0Frau\u00a0<\/em>comes from the\u00a0althochdeutsch\u00a0<\/em>(Old High German) word\u00a0fr\u00f4<\/em><\/strong>, which means\u00a0Herr\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(Mister, sir, lord), a very male word. So for a long time, linguistically, the\u00a0Frau\u00a0<\/em>was like the extension of the man.<\/p>\n

Into the Middle Ages, the\u00a0Jungfrau\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(“young woman”, virgin) was simply a woman that wasn’t married (yet). Later, when Christianity really took hold, the element of Jungfr\u00e4ulichkeit <\/em>(virginity) entered the mix, with Maria being the\u00a0Jungfrau<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em>So, the unmarried women were called by a different name:\u00a0das Fr\u00e4ulein\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0die Jungfer<\/em>, a derivative of\u00a0Jungfrau<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Initially, both\u00a0Jungfrau\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Fr\u00e4ulein\u00a0<\/em>were only used to refer to unmarried women of royal standing, like the word “damsel”. For example the daughter of a F\u00fcrst\u00a0<\/em>(monarch) was a\u00a0Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em> (also see\u00a0Burgfr\u00e4ulein<\/em> – a “castle lady”). Over time, the terms became more and more colloquial, to the point that Fr\u00e4ulein\u00a0<\/em>was bastardized to\u00a0Frollein<\/em><\/strong>, and was used as a way to address a “Miss” around the late 19th to early 20th century.<\/p>\n

Celibacy and bans – new meaning for the Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Fr\u00e4ulein<\/a>

A Fr\u00e4ulein Lehrerin<\/em> at work in Berlin 1949 (Image by Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S88279 \/ K\u00fcmpfel at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 3.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the\u00a0German Empire from 1880 to 1919, a so-called\u00a0Lehrerinnenz\u00f6libat\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>(female teacher celibacy) was in force. According to this, a female teacher was by law not allowed to be married<\/strong>. If she did get married while being teacher, this celibacy law called for the woman to get fired. In general, a\u00a0Berufst\u00e4tigkeit\u00a0<\/em>(professional occupation) for women was seen as a pre-marital thing. Once married, a woman was not deemed to be able to handle both a job and a family. Furthermore, women were seen as\u00a0unn\u00f6tige Konkurrenz auf dem Arbeitsmarkt\u00a0<\/em>(unnecessary competition on the job market). Interesting how a woman that couldn’t handle a family and a job is simultaneously a threat for men trying to get a job… If you want to learn more about the\u00a0Lehrerinnenz\u00f6libat<\/em>, look here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Similar rules to connect the marital status of a woman to her employment existed in Germany until 1957. 1957! At that time, husbands lost their right to prohibit their wives of getting a job. So finally,\u00a0Frauen\u00a0<\/em>could get a job without having to worry about their marital status. By law, that is.<\/p>\n

The word\u00a0Fr\u00e4ulein\u00a0<\/em>stuck,\u00a0hartn\u00e4ckig\u00a0<\/em>(stubbornly), as a way to address women at the workplace. For example in the supermarket, in a professional environment<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e4ulein Mack, kommen Sie bitte zur Fleischtheke?<\/em><\/p>\n

(Miss Mack, could you please come to the meat counter?)<\/p>\n

So even in a work setting, you could be called\u00a0Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But a big change to this came in 1972.<\/p>\n

1972: The end of das Fr\u00e4ulein<\/em><\/strong><\/h1>\n