Daughter

Daughter (pronounced daw-ter)

(1) A female child or person in relation to her parents.

(2) Any female descendant (now rare).

(3) A person said to be related to an institution as if by the ties binding daughter to parent (daughter of the church; Daughters of the American Revolution etc).

(4) Any female (archaic in the English-speaking world but used sometimes by some cultures to indicate some closeness of family relationship, rather as aunt & uncle are sometimes used in the West).

(5) Any institution or other thing personified as female and considered with respect to its origin (eg Australia is the daughter of the six colonies).

(6) In chemistry & physics (of a nuclide), an isotope formed by radioactive decay of another isotope.

(7) In biology, pertaining to a cell or other structure arising from division or replication (eg the daughter cell; daughter DNA).

(8) As daughterboard, IBM’s original descriptor for boards (now called piggyback boards, riser cards or mezzanine boards) which directly (usually by soldering) connect to motherboards (now called main or system-boards).

(9) In historical linguistics, as daughter language (known also as a descendant language), a language descended from another (its mother language) through genetic descent as opposed to a "sister language" which is one which also evolved from the proto- mother language but formed a separate branch.  The model is that of a tree where the mother language is the trunk and the branches the daughters and sisters (each of which can have their own daughters and sisters).  The image of the tree represents the diversification of languages from a root source.

(10) In fantasy writing, as merdaughter, a mermaid daughter.

(11) In slang, as “daughter of Sappho”, a lesbian.

Pre 950: From the Middle English goghter & doughter, from the Old English dohtor (female child considered with reference to her parents; daughter) from the Proto-West Germanic dohter, from the Proto-Germanic dokhter and the earlier dhutēr, from the primitive Indo-European dughtḗr, source also of the Sanskrit duhitā & duhitar-, the Avestan dugeda-, the Armenian dustr, the Old Church Slavonic dušti, the Lithuanian duktė and the Ancient Greek thygátēr & thugatēr).  The Proto-Germanic forms were the source also of the Old Saxon dohtar, the Old Norse dóttir, the Old Frisian and Dutch dochter, the Old High German tohter, the German Tochter and the Gothic dauhtar.  Daughter, daughterhood, daughtership & daughterling are nouns and daughterless, daughtered, daughterly & daughterlike are adjectives; the noun plural is daughters or daughtren (archaic).

Dutiful daughter: Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021 and since 2025) with daughter Ivanka Trump (b 1981;  senior advisor in the first Trump administration 2017-2021) in an extended (stretch) Lincoln Continental limousine, New York City, circa 1992.

The common Indo-European word was lost in Celtic and Latin; the Latin filia (daughter) is the feminine form of filius (son), the most obvious connection in Modern English being young female horses: a filly is a beast under four and thus too young to be a mare and filly is still used as humorous and affectionate slang to refer to a lively girl or young woman.  The modern spelling evolved in the sixteenth century in southern England.  In late Old English, the form also emerged of a "woman viewed in some analogous relationship" (to her native country, church, culture etc and that use persists to this day) and from circa 1200 could be used to describe anything regarded as feminine.  Daughter-in-law is attested from the late fourteenth century.  The noun plural is daughters, the long archaic form being daughtren and the last surviving obsolete spelling was dafter.  The adjective daughterly (relating to or characteristic of a daughter) is technically neutral but has long denoted “dutiful (towards parents)”, the “dutiful daughter” a frequent reference in English literature.  As well as dutiful, daughters can be difficult and Theodore Roosevelt (TR, 1858–1919; POTUS 1901-1909) was once asked by some Republican Party apparatchiks to "control his daughter" (Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth (1884–1980) who had a mind of her own)  He replied he "could be president of the United States or he could control Alice but he could not do both."  

The noun step-daughter was from the Old English stepdohtor, the formation aligned with the German Stieftochter.  Grand-daughter, like the related forms to describe recent ancestors and relations dates from 1610.  The noun god-daughter (female godchild, girl one sponsors at her baptism) was adopted in the mid-thirteenth century as a modification of the Old English goddohtor.  The noun filicide (action of killing a son or daughter) dates from the 1660s, the construct being the Latin filius/filia (son/daughter) + -cide (a killing), the meaning extended after 1823 to "one who kills a son or daughter", filicidal appearing shortly after.  Bathsheba was the Biblical wife of King David, mother of Solomon, from the Hebrew Bathshebha (literally "daughter of the oath" from bath (daughter).

Lindsay Lohan: Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father).

I wait for the postman to bring me a letter

I wait for the good Lord to make me feel better

And I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders

A family in crisis that only grows older

Why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I am broken but I am hoping

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I am crying, a part of me is dying and

These are, these are

The confessions of a broken heart

And I wear all your old clothes; your polo sweater

I dream of another you the one who would never, never

Leave me alone to pick up the pieces

A daddy to hold me, that's what I needed

So why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Why'd you have to go

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I don't know you, but I still want to

Daughter to father, daughter to father

Tell me the truth, did you ever love me'

Cause these are, these are

The confessions of a broken heart, of a broken heart

I love you

I love you

I love you

I, I love you

Daughter to father, daughter to father

I don't know you, but I still want to

Daughter to father, daughter to father

Tell me the truth, did you ever love me'

Did you ever love me?

These are

The confessions of a broken heart, oh yeah

And I wait for the postman to bring me a letter

Songwriters: Kara Dioguardi (b 1970), Lindsay Lohan (b 1986) & William Wells (b 1973).  Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music.  From the album A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005).

Kim Ju Ae, First Daughter of the DPRK

Donald Trump is by all accounts a good father and no doubt gave his daughters the odd tour of the hotels and real-estate developments which are the core of the family business but as daddy-daughter days go, they probably weren’t as much fun as those arranged for Kim Ju Ae (b circa 2013) by Kim Jong Un (Kim III, b 1982; Supreme Leader of DPRK (North Korea) since 2011).  Like just about everything else done by the Supreme Leader, his daddy-daughter days are well-publicized by the KCNA (Korean Central News Agency) and Kim Ju Ae had been seen accompanying her father while inspecting nuclear warheads, watching ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile) launches and reviewing military parades although the most recent highlight was of her driving a battle-tank on manoeuvres over a plain (she seemed to be having fun).  With an elaborate headquarters located at 1 Potonggang-dong in Pyongyang's Potonggang District) the KCNA may be the world's most productive state news agency and is the best source for new Kim Jong Un content.  Of course, Mr Trump is commander-in-chief of the world’s best-equipped military and, if so minded, could on next daddy-daughter day take his daughters tank-driving although their enthusiasm for such things may be restrained.

DPRK postage stamp issued in 2018 to mark Kim Ju Ae’s presence at a military base where ICBMs were being displayed.  Like many young girls, Kim Ju Ae is much taken by the beauty of nuclear weapons.

Although not discussed by the KCNA, there has in the West been speculation Kim Ju Ae is being groomed to succeed Kim Jong Un as leader of the DPRK (and thus become Kim IV) should (God forbid) the Supreme Leader drop dead.  One important aspect of the succession would be the choice of title to be granted to Kim IV, not a minor matter in the DPRK where the personality cult of the leaders has so assiduously been cultivated.  The DPRK’s leadership titles are not arbitrary honorifics; they are components of the Suryŏng system, a carefully managed political theology blending Confucian familial hierarchy, Marxist terminology and quasi-religious veneration. Structurally, the key functional term is 령도자 / 지도자 (leader), the adjectives chosen to mark legitimacy, continuity, and distinction and thus far the nomenclature has included:

Kim Il Sung (Kim I): 위대한 수령 (Widaehan Suryŏng); “Great Leader, 1948-1994”.

Kim Jong Il (Kim II): 친애하는 지도자 (Chin’aehan Jidoja); “Dear Leader, 1994-2011”.

Kim Jong Un (Kim III):  최고령도자 (Ch’oe-go Ryŏngdoja); “Supreme Leader since 2011”.

Were Kim Ju Ae to be elevated as successor, it would be the first time since the formation of the DPRK in 1948 that the leadership would be held by a woman but on forums in the RoK (Republic of Korea (South Korea)), users seems to think this not significant and that it was at least possible the “Supreme Leader” epithet might be re-used, the argument being (1) “Supreme Leader” has become accepted as the apex designation, (2) institutional continuity would be maintained and (3) it would conform with the dynamics of 삼대세습 (三代世襲, samdae sesŭp), the construct being 삼대 (三代) (three generations) +세습 (世襲) (hereditary succession).  In Korea, the “three-generation hereditary succession” of the Kim dynasty is the Great Leader / Dear Leader / Supreme Leader sequence and for various reasons it’s unthinkable that the “Great Leader” title could be re-used because part of Kim gamily mystique (of which much has been manufactured) is that as the founder of the DPRK, Kim Il Sung is and must remain unique.

KCNA official image of Kim Ju Ae’s driving a Cheonma-2 (M2024) third generation main battle tank, March, 2026.

Indeed, despite being three decades dead, Kim Il Sung remains president.  Kim Il-sung held an array of titles during his decades as the DPRK’s dictator, the proliferation not unusual in communist nations where the ruling party’s structures are maintained alongside the formal titles of state with which a nation maintains relations with the rest of the world.  In office for a remarkable 45 years, he was designated premier (head of government) between 1948-1972 and president 1972-1994.  Additionally, he was between 1949-1994 head of the WPK (Workers' Party of Korea) and in that role was styled successively as chairman (1949-1966) and general secretary (after 1966).  During his 45-year rule, there were ten POTUSs, six RoK (Republic of Korea (South Korea)) presidents, nine British prime ministers and ten Australian prime ministers and his tenure in office spanned the era of the Soviet Union from its apotheosis under comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) to its collapse in 1991.

DPRK postage stamp issued in 2018 to mark Kim Ju Ae’s presence at a military base where ICBMs were being displayed.

Being dead however proved no obstacle to The Great Leader extending his presidency, the collective office “Eternal leaders of Juche Korea” (Chuch'ejosŏnŭi yŏngwŏnhan suryŏng) created in 2016 by the insertion of an enabling line in the preamble to the constitution.  What this amendment did was formalise the position of The Great Leader and his late son (The Dear Leader) as the “eternal leaders” of the DPRK and was said to be part of juche, the term used to describe the DPRK’s national philosophy, a synthesis of The Great Leader’s interpretation of (1) Korean tradition and (2) Marxist-Leninist theory.  It was an interesting legal move.  Constitutionally, the office of president was established only in 1972; prior to that the role of head of state had been purely ceremonial and held by respected party functionaries, all power exercised by The Great Leader in his capacity as premier and general secretary of the WPK.  However, merely by being president, The Great Leader vested the office with such prestige that upon his death in 1994, the position was left vacant, The Dear Leader not granted the title.  That nuance of succession for a while absorbed the interest of the DPRK watchers but attempts to invest the move with any significance abated as DPRK business, though in the more straitened circumstances of the post Soviet world, continued as usual.

The constitution was again revised in 1998.  Being a godless communist state, no fine theological points stood in the way of declaring The Great Leader the DPRK’s “Eternal President”, the latest addition to the preamble declaring: “Under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Korean people will hold the great leader Comrade Kim Il-sung in high esteem as the eternal President of the Republic.”  The constitution, as revised and promulgated after the death of The Dear Leader, again referred to The Great Leader as “Eternal President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea” but in 2016 (The Dear Leader having been dead for an apparently decent duration), another amendment to the preamble changed the administrative nomenclature of executive eternity to “Eternal leaders of Juche Korea”, the honor now jointly held by the leaders great & dear.  It was another first for the Kims and the legal mechanism is expected to be replicated after the death of the Supreme Leader.

KCNA official photograph: Ri Sol-ju (b circa 1987; wife of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un) (left), Kim Ju-ae (centre) and Kim Jong-un (right), undisclosed location, February 2023.

Although the dynastic model (Kim I, Kim II, Kim II) may appear to be that of a hereditary monarchy, the regime makes an ideological distinction between the DPRK and decadent practices elsewhere, the succession based on 백두혈통 (Paektu hyŏlt’ong) (Mount Paektu bloodline) with the legitimacy conferred not by “inheritance” but rather “revolutionary lineage”.  Sitting on the Chinese border, Mount Paektu is an active volcano and the highest peak on the Korean peninsula; as well as being important in ancient Korean mythology, it figures also in the legends of the Kims, Kim Il-sung said to have led a resistance against Japan's occupation of the peninsula from bases on Mount Paektu and it was there Kim Jong-il was born.  Now, with “three-generation hereditary succession” accomplished, in a sense, samdae sesŭp has been perfected and in South Korea (or “the puppet state to the south” as the KCNA puts it), the feeling the internal logic of henceforth maintaining a “Supreme Leader” would be compelling although that won’t stop some in the puppet state dubbing her “Supreme Leaderette”.

IBM: Mothers and daughters but not sisters

IBM PC-1 (1981).

IBM didn’t invent the motherboard.  It evolved into the form in which it became well-known in the early 1980s because advances in technology had reduced the size of certain components (CPU, memory etc) which used to be separate devices which were wired together to run as a unit.  When IBM released the original PC-1 in 1981, it was built around a motherboard which contained slots into which expansion boards could be plugged and various connectors with which compatible devices could be connected.  Given there were motherboards, IBM, in the innocent age of the 1980s, decided other peripheral components, those usually directly embedded through soldering to the motherboard, should be called daughterboards.  Quite how the nomenclature was chosen is either not known or IBM has suppressed the records and the fanciful notion that it’s because the early motherboards contained more female than male connections is just an industry myth.  In the literature, there’s also the odd reference to sisterboards though the name never caught on and "daughter-board" was sometime used to describe cards which plugged-into expansion cards but such devices were rare.  Obviously, if a server has two daughter-boards installed, there's no reason why they couldn't, in that configuration, be called “sister-boards” but the convention never evolved.

IBM PC-1 motherboard (1981), expansion slots at the top right; it seemed small at the time.

A daughterboard was a circuit board which extends the circuitry of the motherboard and, being soldered, was connected directly, unlike the inherently swappable expansion cards which plugged-in using the bus or other (most often serial, parallel or SCSI (small computer system interface)) interfaces.  Like a motherboard, daughterboards had sockets, pins, plugs and connectors to permit connection to other boards or other devices and have been both part of initial product releases and post-launch updates, the best known example of which were the MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) daughterboards used to add functionality to a sound card.  Except for the odd special build for someone really nerdy, modern personal computers now rarely have daughterboards although they’re still seen on servers.

Daughterboard (left) and bored daughter (right):  1984 Apple Macintosh 128 KB motherboard with SCSI (small computer system interface) daughterboard (right) and additional RAM daughterboard (left).  In 1984, having a machine with 1 MB RAM was a way to impress people.  An obviously bored Chelsea Clinton (b 1980; FDOTUS 1993-2001) is pictured listening to crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947; US secretary of state 2009-2013) again explain why her never becoming POTUS was the fault of others, Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, Hilton Hotel, Manhattan, New York City, 18 September, 2023.  Chelsea had heard it all before.

Even before the twenty-first century interest in gender and gendered pronouns, IBM had renamed everything in the corporation which could in anyway be thought sexist, racist etc.  By the late 1990s, although the term motherboard continued widely to be used, IBM had started calling them them variously main-boards or system-boards; daughterboards became piggyback or mezzanine boards.  Interestingly, as part of the linguistic sanitation, IBM started calling hard disk drives "hard files" which was either looking forward to solid-state storage or just one of those inexplicable things which happens when projects assume their own inertia; whatever the reason, the "hard file" never caught on.  The terms male and female for connections (modeled on human anatomy and used in everything from plumbing to the space programme) were retained because their use was universal and convenient or mnemonic gender-neutral substitutes eluded even IBM's language police.  Male and female connectors may be about the only gender-loaded terms which will escape being labelled "micro-aggressions".