"excessive chivalry toward women," 1879 as a German word in English, from the title of a work by Ulrich von Lichtenstein (13c.), from German frauen, plural of frau "woman" + dienst "service."
Entries linking to frauendienst
frau n.
"married woman," 1813, from German Frau "woman, wife," from Middle High German vrouwe "lady, mistress," from Old High German frouwa "mistress, lady" (9c.), from Proto-Germanic *frowo "lady" (source also of Old English freo "woman, lady," Middle Dutch vrouwe, Dutch vrouw), fem. of *frawan "lord," from suffixed form of PIE *pro- (see pro-), extended form of root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before, toward, near," etc.. Swedish fru, Danish frue are ultimately from Dutch; the proper Scandinavian form is preserved in Old Norse freyja "lady," husfreyja "mistress of the house."