Monsieur

Monsieur ( məsjø ), abbreviated M. ( with dot ), is a French form of address and means lord. The plural is Messieurs, short MM or MM ( with or without a period ). Customary, the title Maître (Master), short form Me or Me (excluding point), for artists, lawyers or other distinguished personalities. Examples: Maître de Cuisine, Maître fromager affineur, Maître de conférences.

Forms in the German-language area

Musje or Mosje are common in the 18th century German short forms of Monsieur.

The well-known from the adventure novels of the German writer Karl May Salutation Mesch'schurs goes back to the French form Messieurs. Their English borrowing messieurs and its abbreviation Messrs. served as a substitute for the missing plural forms to Mr. and Mr. English messieurs is first documented in 1779, Messrs. 1793. Abbreviation was " mech - ourz ", " Meschurs ", " Messurs, Messyurs " or " mesher " pronounced. May used the salutation in the form Mesch'schurs already in his early novel Old Firehand (1875 ), later explained the derivation and gave 1896 as pronunciation " MESCHERS ". In Mays spelling it occurs with the writers Franz Werfel and Carl Zuck Mayer, Franz Josef Degenhardt in the form Mesch'urs, Ernst Friedrich Löhndorff as Meschurs.