Only when I went to the dictionary to check historical usage of the word madam (in English) did I realise that, at root, madam & madonna are the same – my lady, French or Italian, ultimately Latin, although I suppose I would have realised it if I had ever stopped for one moment to think about it.
Contemplate those two words together – tight packed, waiting to explode all the meanings & associations acquired over time, part cultural, part religious, part political – what with Italian being the language of the Church of Rome & our ambivalent feelings about the French. All our own conflicted attitudes towards what it means to be a 'proper' or a 'desirable' woman.
loose or flirtatious a prostitute The Virgin Mary
Chastity
a woman of high rank mistress of a house brothel-keeper
An affected fine lady A kept mistress a courtesan
prostitute conceited precocious girl
a hussy
a minx
Further evidence that is the thing, or rather our attitude to the thing, not the word itself, which can offend or please us.
Thinking about this has made me want to read Marina Warner’s book, which I missed out on somehow.
And perhaps Ms Ciccone was all along just instructing us to call her madam
