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Don (DOM lord a title originally)

or DOM (lord), a title originally assumed by the popes, from whom it descended to bishops and other dignitaries, and finally to monks. In France, the title dom was conferred on the Carlovingian kings; in Portugal and Brazil it is now the universal title of the higher classes. The Spanish don was originally confined to the nobility, but is now bestowed by courtesy as indiscriminately as the English Mr. or Esq. The feminine is doña (Ital. donna). The Dan in "Dan Chaucer" is a form of the same word, and we still speak of "college dons.' DOÑA FRANCISCA, a German colony in the Brazilian state of Santa Catharina, lying between the Serra do Mar and the ocean, 14 miles inland from the port of São Francisco. Area, 550 square miles; pop. about 26,000. Chief town, Joinville.