A gentlewoman (from the
Latingentilis, belonging to a gens, and
English 'woman') in the original and strict sense is a woman of good
family, analogous to the Latin generosus and generosa. The closely related English word "
gentry" derives from the
Old Frenchgenterise, gentelise, with much of the meaning of the
Frenchnoblesse and the
GermanAdel, but without the strict technical requirements of those traditions, such as
quarters of nobility.
By association with
gentleman, the word can refer to:
A woman of gentle birth or high social position;
A woman attending a great lady (as, for example, the character in
William Shakespeare's Macbeth called only 'Gentlewoman', who attends
Lady Macbeth). This might be a court appointment as the female equivalent to a
valet de chambre.
A woman with good
manners and high standards of behaviour.[1][2]
Enitan Bereola II, Gentlewoman: Etiquette for a Lady, from a Gentleman[4] (2014)
Isabella Whitney, The Copy of a Letter, Lately Written in Meter by a Young Gentlewoman: to her Unconstant Lover, ca. 1567[5] earliest known volume of English language secular poetry published by a woman
Jane Anger: Her Protection for Women to defend them against the scandalous reports of a late surfeiting Lover... Written by Jane Anger, Gentlewoman at London (1589)
Richard Braithwaite's The English Gentlewoman (1631), followed his The English Gentleman (1630), both being books about acceptable behaviour.[6]