ETYMOLOGY
from the female forename Dowsabel (also Dowsabell, Dousabella);
probably from Anglo-Norman and Old French douce (quiet, sedate, prudent) + ‑abel (in the female forenames Amabel, Isabel, Mirabel);
perhaps originally used as the name of a character in a lost romance
EXAMPLE
“…With thinking on the booties, Dol., brought in
Daily, by their small parties. This deare houre,
A doughtie Don is taken, with my Dol.;
And thou maist make his ransome, what thou wilt,
My Dousabell: He shall be brought here, fetter’d
With my faire lookes, before he sees thee; and throwne
In a downe-bed, as darke as any dungeon…”
From: The Alchemist
By Ben Jonson, 1612
Lexicophilia 