A
milkmaid or
milk maid is a girl or woman employed to milk cows. She also used the
milkMilk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother's antibodies to the baby. It can reduce...
to prepare dairy products such as
creamCream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...
,
butterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying...
, and
cheeseCheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. It is produced by coagulation of the milk protein casein. Typically, the milk is acidified and addition of the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into...
. The term is not a female equivalent of
milkmanA milkman is a person, traditionally male, who delivers milk in milk bottles or cartons. Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen to deliver products other than milk such as eggs, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt or soft drinks...
and is now largely obsolete due to the use of automated milking machines in the modern dairy industry and because milking cows is no longer considered to be exclusively "women's work".
The expression "as smooth as a milk maid's skin" means exceptionally smooth.
This phrase came about as a result of exposure to
cowpoxCowpox is a disease of the skin that is caused by a virus known as the Cowpox virus. The pox is related to the vaccinia virus, and got its name from dairymaids touching the udders of infected cows. The ailment manifests itself in the form of red blisters and is transmitted by touch from infected...
, which causes no serious symptoms, but does convey a partial
immunityImmunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
to the disfiguring (and often fatal) disease
smallpoxSmallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"...
.
Discussion
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A
milkmaid or
milk maid is a girl or woman employed to milk cows. She also used the
milkMilk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It provides the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. The early lactation milk is known as colostrum, and carries the mother's antibodies to the baby. It can reduce...
to prepare dairy products such as
creamCream is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators"...
,
butterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying...
, and
cheeseCheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. It is produced by coagulation of the milk protein casein. Typically, the milk is acidified and addition of the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into...
. The term is not a female equivalent of
milkmanA milkman is a person, traditionally male, who delivers milk in milk bottles or cartons. Milk deliveries frequently occur in the morning and it is not uncommon for milkmen to deliver products other than milk such as eggs, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt or soft drinks...
and is now largely obsolete due to the use of automated milking machines in the modern dairy industry and because milking cows is no longer considered to be exclusively "women's work".
"As smooth as a milk maid's skin"
The expression "as smooth as a milk maid's skin" means exceptionally smooth.
This phrase came about as a result of exposure to
cowpoxCowpox is a disease of the skin that is caused by a virus known as the Cowpox virus. The pox is related to the vaccinia virus, and got its name from dairymaids touching the udders of infected cows. The ailment manifests itself in the form of red blisters and is transmitted by touch from infected...
, which causes no serious symptoms, but does convey a partial
immunityImmunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
to the disfiguring (and often fatal) disease
smallpoxSmallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"...
. Thus, milkmaids lacked the "pockmarked" complexion common to smallpox survivors. This observation led to the development of the first
vaccinationVaccination is the administration of antigenic material to produce immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by a pathogen. Vaccination is generally considered to be the most effective and cost-effective method of preventing infectious diseases...
.
Cultural references
- The legend of the Dun Cow and the milkmaid who guided the monks of Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne is a tidal island off the north-east coast of England also known as Holy Island, the name of the civil parish. The name Lindisfarne derives from Farne meaning "retreat" and Lindis, a small tidal river adjacent to the island. It has a population of 162...
carrying the body of Saint Cuthbert to the site of the present city of DurhamDurham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county....
in 995 AD.
- The eponymous heroine of Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels...
's Tess of the d'UrbervillesTess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British illustrated newspaper, The Graphic. It is Hardy's penultimate novel, followed by Jude the Obscure...
works as a milkmaid.
- There is a famous painting by Johannes Vermeer
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
entitled The MilkmaidThe Milkmaid , sometimes called The Kitchen Maid, is an oil-on-canvas painting of a "milkmaid", in fact a domestic kitchen maid, by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer...
(ca. 1658). Aelbert CuypAelbert Jacobsz Cuyp was one of the leading Dutch landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritsz...
, another DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
artist, created the drawing known as A Milkmaid (ca. 1640 – 1650).
- William Hogarth's The March of the Guards to Finchley
The March of the Guards to Finchley, also known as The March to Finchley or The March of the Guards, is a 1750 oil-on-canvas painting by English artist William Hogarth, owned by the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children since 1750 and now housed at the Foundling Museum...
1750 shows a milkmaid kissing a soldier who makes a pass at her breasts.
- One of the fables of Aesop
Aesop , known only for the genre of fables ascribed to him, was by tradition a slave who was a contemporary of Croesus and Peisistratus in the mid-sixth century BC in ancient Greece.-Fables:The various collections that go under the rubric "Aesop's Fables" are still taught as moral...
is called “The Milkmaid and Her Pail”.
- The California native flower commonly called Milkmaids
Cardamine californica , is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native to western North America from Washington to Baja California. It is common on shady slopes in the winter and early spring....
is named for its resemblance to the hat often worn by milkmaids.
- Kid Harpoon
Kid Harpoon is an English singer-songwriter and musician.- Career :Originally hailing from Chatham, Kid Harpoon began to play live locally at venues such as The Tap & Tin and Command House...
has a song called Milkmaid; the music video features actress Juno Temple-Personal life:Temple is the daughter of producer Amanda Temple and film director Julien Temple. She attended Enmore Primary School, Bedales School and King's College, Taunton.-Career:...
.
- The 12 days of Christmas 8th day mentions a maid-a-milking aka milk maid.
- The Philippines has a condensed milk brand called Milkmaid, a product of Alaska Milk Corporation.