shepherdess

English

Etymology

From Middle English scheperdesse, shepperdesse; equivalent to shepherd +‎ -ess.

Noun

shepherdess (plural shepherdesses)

1. (dated) A female shepherd.
   • 1709, Anthony Aston, The Coy Shepherdess‎^[1], page 18:
   • 1763, Select Moral Tales. (The Good Mother, The Shepherdess of the Alps)‎^[2], page 83:

     I thought it a crime to refuse nature the maintenance of a life much more grievous than death. I changed my* dress for the simple habit of a shepherdess, and embraced this state as my only refuge; since that time all my consolation has been to weep over this grave, which shall be my own.

   • 1778, The Dramatick Works of Beaumont and Fletcher‎^[3], page 115:

     A Faithful Shepherdess

   • September 2014, New York Film Festival to Revive Paul Grimault’s Animated Classic IndieWire

     the satirical The King And The Mockingbird follows a chimney sweep and shepherdess on the run from a tyrannical king

   • November 2014, It’s Taken Decades, But the Surreal Animated Film The King and the Mockingbird Is Finally Here Vulture

     The king is in love with a beautiful shepherdess in a painting on his wall, but she herself is in love with the handsome chimney sweep in the painting beside her.

2. A large and deep armchair with a cushion.

Synonyms

• (female shepherd): pastoress, pastrix (rare)

Derived terms

• shepherdess pie

Translations

female shepherd

• Albanian: bareshë (sq) f, blegë (sq) f
• Czech: pastýřka f
• Dutch: schapenhoedster f, herderin (nl) f, (diminutive) herderinnetje (nl) n
• Esperanto: ŝafistino
• French: bergère (fr) f, (literary, diminutive) pastourelle (fr) f
• German: Hirtin (de) f, Schäferin (de) f, Schafhirtin (de) f
• Greek: ποιμενίδα (el) f (poimenída)

  Ancient Greek: ποιμενίς f (poimenís)

• Irish: banaoire m, bantréadaí m
• Italian: pastora (it) f, pastrice f (rare)
• Latin: pastrix f
• Latvian: gane
• Macedonian: овчарка m (ovčarka)
• Polish: pasterka (pl) f, pastuszka (pl) f
• Portuguese: pastora (pt) f
• Romanian: ciobăniță (ro) f, păstoriță (ro) f
• Russian: пасту́шка (ru) f (pastúška)
• Volapük: jipigaledan (vo) f
• Yiddish: פּאַסטושקע f (pastushke)

armchair with a cushion