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Morganatʹic Marriage (A)

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A marriage in which the wife does not take the husband’s rank, because legally, or according to court bye-laws, the marriage is not recognised. This sort of marriage is effected when a man of high rank marries a woman of inferior position. The children in this case do not inherit the title or entails of the father. The word is based on the Gothic morgjan, “to curtail” or “limit;” and the marriage settlement was called morgengabe or morgengnade, whence the Low Latin matrimonium ad legem morganaticam, in which the dowry is to be considered all the portion the wife will receive, as the estates cannot pass to her or to her children.

A morganatic marriage is calledleft-handed,” because a man pledges his troth with his left hand instead of his right. The “hand-fasted” marriages of Scotland and Ireland were morganatic, and the “hand-fasted” bride could be put away for a fresh union.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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More
More Kicks than Hapence
More Last Words
More of More Hall
More the Merrier (The)
More one has, the More he Desires (The)
Moreno
Morestone
Morgan le Fay
Morgan le Fay, Morgaine la Fée, or Morgana the Fairy
Morganatic Marriage (A)
Morgane
Morgans
Morgante
Morgante Maggiore
Morgiana
Morglay
Morgue
Morgue la Faye
Moribund
Morisonianism

See Also:

Morganatic Marriage