the.com/wetnurse
the original gig economy job, paid in milk and royal scandal.
means A woman hired to breastfeed and care for another's infant, especially in the days before reliable infant formula.
from A plain English compound: "wet" (because milk is involved, as opposed to a "dry nurse" who tended a child without breastfeeding) plus "nurse," which comes through Old French nurice from Latin nutricia, "a woman who nourishes," rooted in nutrire, "to feed, suckle" — the same root that feeds "nutrition" and "nourish." The "wet/dry" distinction in English nursing terms dates back centuries, when the job of feeding a baby and the job of minding it were quite separate roles.
- royal duty
- Nursed future kings to spare queens the labor
- status symbol
- Wealthy women hired them to stay fertile faster
- contract clause
- Some banned from sex to protect milk
- language legacy
- French 'nourrice' shaped childhoods for centuries
- trusted bond
- Children sometimes mourned nurses over their mothers
marie marguerite — wet nurse to king louis xiv of france, paid 8,000 livres annually in the 1600s
dorothy dan foster — wet nurse who testified in a 1920s new york court case about infant care practices