Fiancé. Bride. Groom. Wife. Husband. Wedding. Each one is a very familiar English word, but did you ever wonder where these words came from and what they originally meant? It may surprise you to know that, when you call the man you married your husband, you're calling him the "master of the house." Hmmm. Intrigued enough to hear more? Good. Here are some commonly used wedding-related words and their origins:
- Wedding comes from Medieval English before 900 B.C., when the word wedde meant to pledge.
- Marriage derives from the Latin maritare - union under the blessings of Aphrodite-Mari, who was the sea goddess of love and beauty. She was often evoked by hopeful maidens longing for a loving and committed relationship. Aphrodite-Mari might be considered the first matchmaker in history.
- Bride also has its roots in Medieval English or Old English before 1000 B.C., when bryd simply meant young woman. Apparently that's what you were when you married.
- Groom was clearly the bryd's counterpart. Also from Medieval English, grom was their word for boy.
- Bouquet has its origins in the French language and came into use between 1710 and 1720. As you might have guessed, it originally meant bunch. No surprises there.
- Boutonniere is also from the French, but it entered the language around 1875. Boutonniere means buttonhole, from bouton for button and (get this) –iere, which indicates things that facilitate the use of something with a stem. Makes perfect sense.
- Husband. OK. Here's where it gets a little dicey - and irritating. Yes, husband means master of the house. It's from the Medieval English husbonde. Most of us can live with that. But inevitably, this leads us to...
- Wife. The Medieval English word was wif, derived from Old English wif, which was similar to Old High German wib for wife and (here's where it gets annoying) probably to Tocharian B kwipe or female pudenda. Tocharian B is an ancient Indo-European language spoken roughly from the sixth to ninth century centuries before it became extinct. That answers your first question. Female pudenda?
The definition of pudenda is "the external sexual organs, especially those of a woman." And where does pudenda come from? It comes from the Latin pudere, which means, literally, "things to be ashamed of." Surprise. Let's move on to something much less troubling. - Toasting has a quite interesting origin. At one time, a piece of spiced toast was added to the punch, from which the expression "drinking a toast" arose. Bet you remember that the next time you drink a toast!
- Wedding Favors, or more to the point, favor comes from the Medieval English favour, meaning goodwill, but their favour was derived from the Latin favorem, meaning goodwill or support.
Meanwhile, visit My Wedding Favors at MyWeddingFavors.com for a huge selection of beautiful and unique wedding favors that will keep your mind on the more romantic aspects of the wedding.
About the Author: Susan Hawkins is a writer for My Wedding favors at http://www.myweddingfavors.com. Visit the website for more great articles like this one including a wide selection of hundreds of wedding gift ideas, bridesmaids gifts, wedding shower favors and much more.
No comments:
Post a Comment