A straw widow is such a state of a woman when she seems to be married, but it seems to be not. Simply put, when a husband throws and leaves for the region not “much more distant, ” but simply distant, his wife is called a straw widow, since she is forced to do without her husband. Consider the origin of phraseology.
What does straw have to do with it?
One could think the following, if one did not know the story: a woman without a husband was called a straw widow, because straw at any time was not valuable material and symbolized something unreal and not authentic. Thus, a straw widow is a woman who has lost her husband, but not for good, she still has a hope to find him. Husbands do not return alive to real widows.
Actually, straw does not play a metaphysical, but a physical role. When this expression appeared (it has been going on for more than one century), mattresses were mostly stuffed with straw in Europe, therefore straw has a direct connection with the marriage bed. A wife who sleeps in bed without a husband is called a straw widow. Be that as it may, a logical connection of this kind cannot be called obvious. You might think that when the husband is at home, the wife does not sleep on straw mattresses or the mattresses are stuffed with something else.
A girl with a child, but without a husband, never enjoyed special honor
There is another version of the appearance of phraseology. A straw widow is a woman who has given birth to a child out of wedlock. According to legend, residents of a city or village were forced to put on straw hats in order to make them stand out against the background.
An example of a straw widow and the interpretation of the term
If someone asks again: “And a straw widow - what kind of woman is this?” - we can safely answer that this, for example, is the wife of a sailor. Indeed, the sailors have a peculiar work schedule: six months on land, six months at sea. Of course, their chosen ones feel abandoned. In this case, the difference between the ordinary widow and the straw is small, because, as a rule, the household and children are completely on the woman's shoulders.
In addition to the obvious interpretations of the term, there is one such thing: a straw widow (the meaning follows) - this is a woman who was left without the caress of her husband. What is a husband - that he is not. In turn, husbands can neglect spouses for various reasons. For example, due to age, this state of affairs is especially characteristic in unequal marriages. She is young and beautiful, and he is rich, but old. Therefore, the husband can not satisfy all the needs of the wife in full. Many detective writers drew inspiration from the topic of mesalliance.
