etymology – yes, Mistress
27.May.2009

c.1320, “female teacher, governess,” from O.Fr. maistresse, fem. of maistre “master”. Sense of “a woman who employs others or has authority over servants” is from 1426. Sense of “kept woman of a married man” is from 1430.

–noun
1. a woman who has authority, control, or power, esp. the female head of a household, institution, or other establishment.
2. a woman employing, or in authority over, servants or attendants.
3. a female owner of an animal, or formerly, a slave.
4. a woman who has the power of controlling or disposing of something at her own pleasure: mistress of a great fortune.
5. (sometimes initial capital letter) something regarded as feminine that has control or supremacy: Great Britain, the mistress of the seas.
6. a women who is skilled in something, as an occupation or art.
7. a woman who has a continuing, extramarital sexual relationship with one man, esp. a man who, in return for an exclusive and continuing liaison, provides her with financial support.
8. British. a female schoolteacher; schoolmistress.