[f. as prec. + -NESS. Cheventaynes occurs in 15th c. and chefetaynes in early 16th c.; but app. the word after being long obs. was formed anew by Scott.] A female chief or chieftain; a female head of a clan or tribe.
c. 1410. Love, Bonavent. Mirr., xlix. (Gibbs MS. 103). Þe lady of alle worlde & princes of holy chyrche and cheuentaynes [ed. W. de W. 1530, chefetaynes] of Godes peple.
[1592. Constable, Sonn., ii. Poems (1859), 41. Worthie dame! if I thee chieftayne call of Venus’ host.]
1805. Scott, Lett., 21 March, in Lockhart (1839), II. 217. I don’t know if ever you saw my lovely Chieftainess. Ibid. (1818), Rob Roy, xxxi. The Highlanders who surrounded the chieftainess, if I may presume to call her so without offence to grammar.
1857. S. Osborn, Quedah, x. 133. Tamelan, strangely enough for a country where women are not held in high repute, was under the rule of a petty chieftainess.
