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| Agnes Melanie Dickson as a debutante, 1890 |
Anyone who reads historicals, even 20th century historicals…or watches TV…knows what a debutante is. But as I started writing Colonial-set books, I was a bit surprised to learn the word wasn’t around in the 1700s. And a bit at a loss as to what to replace it with when talking about a young woman entering society.
But in its first appearance, debutante actually meant an actress making her stage debut. This word arrived in English round about 1801, coming (no surprise) from the French. It wasn’t applied to society ladies making their debut until 1817. So for me, that means no using it until my Civil War books.
Which I’m now going to hasten back to. 😉 If you haven’t seen the cover of said book, Circle of Spies, yet on Facebook, be sure to come back on Wednesday for a peek, and some fun behind-the-scenes I’ve learned about it since describing it to y’all last week!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.