A handmaiden (nowadays less commonly handmaid or maidservant) is a personal maid or female servant.
[1] The term is also used metaphorically for something whose primary role is to serve or assist.
[1] Depending on culture or historical period, a handmaiden may be of enslaved status or may be simply an employee.
[4][5] In each of these cases, the mistress "gave" their handmaid to their husbands "to wife", to bear his "seed" (children).
Other modern English bible translations use the word slave, slave-girl or servant.