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Inns, Taverns, and Women
Familiar with the word “spinster?” It’s become an archaic term, but for a while was the word used for an unmarried woman.
It actually means person who spins, but the -ster ending makes it feminine.
What, then, are we to make of the fairly common English surname “Brewster.” Same feminine ending.
Did this mean that all Brewsters are descended from a Mary or Annie who made beer?
Perhaps. But we do know that keeping a tavern or an inn has often been “women’s work.”
Evidence of Female Innkeeping in the Ancient World
The code of Hammurabi is most known for its harsh punishments, and the two laws I’m about to quote are no exception:
“If a tavern-keeper does not accept corn according to gross weight in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.” (Yes, this implies drowning a barkeep who doesn’t charge fair prices).
“If an inn-keeper furnish sixty ka of usakani drink to…she shall receive fifty ka of corn at the harvest.”
She.
In fact, the word for “tavern-keeper” apparently is a specifically feminine term.