grass widow

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• UK: /ˈɡɹɑːs ˌwɪdəʊ/
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The word appears in the Germanic languages in different forms and senses, evidently being ancient, but the oldest (both 16th century) are English grasse wydowe and Middle Low German grasswēdewe, both meaning “girl who has lost her virginity, harlot”. Therefore “grass” in all likelihood refers to a bedding for premarital sex. Compare the expression green gown (“loss of virginity”). The girl became a “widow” in the sense that she was neither married nor a virgin. The sense then developed through “married woman who has relations in her husband’s absence” to the contemporary, softened meaning. Compare Dutch grasweduwe, Swedish gräsänka, German Strohwitwe. Etymonline cites the book Vocabulary of East Anglia (1830) by Rev. Robert Forby, which records the term in that region as essentially referring to a woman abandoned after an informal marriage.

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Bulgarian: сла́мена вдови́ца (slámena vdovíca) — woman whose husband is away
• Czech: slaměná vdova — woman whose husband is away
• Danish: græsenke — woman whose husband is away
• Dutch: groene weduwe — woman whose husband is away
• Dutch: onbestorven weduwe — woman whose husband is away
• Faroese: graseinkja — woman whose husband is away
• Finnish: vihreä leski — woman whose husband is away
• German: Strohwitwe — woman whose husband is away
• German: grüne Witwe — woman whose husband is away
• Hebrew: אלמנת קש (almenat kásh) — woman whose husband is away
• Hungarian: szalmaözvegy — woman whose husband is away
• Kazakh: уақытша күйеусіз тұрған әйел (uaqytşa küieusız tūrğan äiel) — woman whose husband is away
• Korean: 생과부 (saenggwabu) — woman whose husband is away
• Lithuanian: gyvanašlė — woman whose husband is away
• Norwegian Bokmål: gressenke — woman whose husband is away
• Norwegian Nynorsk: grasenke — woman whose husband is away
• Norwegian Nynorsk: grasenkje — woman whose husband is away
• Polish: słomiana wdowa — woman whose husband is away
• Russian: соло́менная вдова́ (solómennaja vdová) — woman whose husband is away
• Spanish: esposa separada temporalmente — woman whose husband is away
• Swedish: gräsänka — woman whose husband is away
• Tamil: வாழாவெட்டி (vāḻāveṭṭi) — woman whose husband is away