---
title: handmaid — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «handmaid» in the Early Modern English dictionary: a female servant, often a young woman who serves a lady or household. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# handmaid

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** young woman, handmaid, Lady Jamila, Almas · **What happens:** serve, bear, hear, be, go out, give · **To what, where:** lady, son, Jacob, loving reception, Jamila, second son · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«handmaid» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [handmaid in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/handmaid.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a female servant, often a young woman who serves a lady or household.

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:handmaid:m1:1
# text = a female servant, often a young woman who serves a lady or household.
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	female	female	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	often	often	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
10	serves	serve	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	household	household	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | present | a young woman | a lady or household |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lady=Attribute |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a son.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah GEN.30.10, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:handmaid:x1:1
# text = And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a son.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	Zilpah	Zilpah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	Leah	Leah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	handmaid	handmaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past | Zilpah Leah's handmaid | a son | Jacob |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent jacob=Beneficiary son=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the Lady Jamila heard that Prince Almas was near, she went out, with many a fair handmaid, to give him loving reception.

<!-- .note -->
From The Brown Fairy Book.

<!-- fold The tree, 23 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:handmaid:x2:1
# text = When the Lady Jamila heard that Prince Almas was near, she went out, with many a fair handmaid, to give him loving reception.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Lady	Lady	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	Jamila	Jamila	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nmod:desc	_	_
8	Almas	Almas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	near	near	ADV	RB	_	5	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	out	out	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	nsubj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	handmaid	handmaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	parataxis	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	iobj	_	_
25	loving	loving	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	reception	reception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | the Lady Jamila |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | past | Almas  Prince |  |  |  |  | near *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **go out** | past | Almas |  |  |  |  | with a fair handmaid | vn interact-36.6 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with handmaid=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **give** | to-infinitive |  | loving reception | Jamila |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient reception=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a second son.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah GEN.30.12, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:handmaid:x3:1
# text = And Zilpah Leah's handmaid bore Jacob a second son.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	Zilpah	Zilpah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	Leah	Leah	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	's	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	handmaid	handmaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	second	second	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	10	amod	_	_
10	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bear** | past | Zilpah Leah's handmaid | a second son | Jacob |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent jacob=Beneficiary son=Patient |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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