Abc Quiz

[bluebell56]

HELP! I have one last question on this quiz. The answer starts with A,B or C.
Question - A bishop's wife (unfortunately no number of letters)
Many thanks

[daveygh]

cary ?

[daveygh]

forget that

[scorpiojo]

?

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bishopess

[SirOracle]

Scorpy I think you are right,but somehow it doesn't sound right.

Anyway in my lot, Bishops are not allowed a wife so I don't know the answer. ;-0

[bluebell56]

Thanks Scorpiojo. Well why didn't I think of that! Much appreciated. Thanks again.

[scorpiojo]

Happy to help :)

[scorpiojo]

Lol

[SirOracle]

And I thought I was getting a "best answer"award,even under false pretences. :-(

[Jackdaw33]

Archaic now, but in most cases the suffix 'ess' to denote the female spouse of an officeholder was at one time common. I vaguely remember the terms, 'vicaress' to denote a vicar's wife and 'doctoress' to denote the wife of a doctor. This suffix now survives merely to describe those who have married into royalty.

[Georgiesmum]

... and abbess!

[SirOracle]

Not so Georgiesmum......An Abbess is a woman who is head of an Abbey.

[Jackdaw33]

The problem is that in English the suffix 'ess' can denote an office holder in her own right or the wife of a man. Thus princess can denote a female of the blood royal as well as the wife of a prince. An abbess was clearly not the wife of an abbot, but an official in her own right. The suffix has fallen out of favour, actresses are now referred to as actors, which is bad news for bishops (or maybe not).