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matrimony

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Etymology and origin of the English word matrimony

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1300 More words from the 13th century
Borrowed from
Anglo-Norman matrimoigne via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin māter

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈmat.ɹɪ.mə.ni/[1]
  • US: /ˈmæt.ɹɪˌmoʊ.ni/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English matrimoine, also matrimony,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman matrimoigne, also matremoine, and Middle French matremoine,[5][6][7] from Latin mātrimōnium (“wedlock, marriage”).[5][8][7][9] Barnhart and Etymonline add a direct borrowing from the Latin word.[2][8] It is formed from māter (“mother”), stem mātr-, and the suffix -mōnium, English -mony, which marks an action, state or condition,[5][8][2] probably on the model of patrimōnium (“patrimony”), so that its literal sense is the establishment of a mother in a household.[2] In Old French it is first recorded about 1155, for property inherited from one's mother,[5] and the Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1160–74.[6] Compare Italian matrimonio and Spanish matrimonio.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marriage: about 1300 as matrimoyne, and about 1303 as matrymony in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne, according to Barnhart;[2] Etymonline also gives c. 1300.[8] The OED, in its revised entry of 2001, has the first record in 1357, in Gaytryge's Lay Folks' Catechism, for the rite or sacrament.[5]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word meant the state of marriage, and in the plural "wives".[8] English used it both for the state and for the rite or sacrament;[5][8] Chaucer has it five times and Gower once.[4] Phrases recorded by the OED include to make matrimony, to get married, from about 1400 to 1693, and to break matrimony, to commit adultery, in Tyndale's Bible of 1526.[5] Johnson (1755) quoted the Common Prayer: "joined in holy matrimony".[10] From the 18th century the idea of a pair was extended to other couplings: a card game with a winning king and queen, from before 1743;[5][7] a mixture of two foods or drinks, slang and regional, from 1813, when the Examiner wrote of "that injudicious mixing of wines, which is called matrimony";[11][5] and a shrub, the matrimony vine, from 1818.[5] The food sense took local forms: raisins and almonds mixed,[11] a Devon mixture of gin with whisky or rum,[12] and an east Yorkshire matrimony cake with currants between two layers of pastry.[12]

Timeline

  • c. 1300 – matrimoyne, marriage.[2][8] The OED's first record, for the rite or sacrament, is from 1357.[5]
  • before 1382 – the state of being married.[5]
  • before 1402 – a marriage; a union formed by marriage (obsolete by 1834).[5]
  • 1526 – to break matrimony, to commit adultery.[5]
  • before 1640 – a husband or wife (obsolete by 1697).[5]
  • before 1743 – a card game; the pairing of a king and queen.[5]
  • 1813 – a mixture of two foods or drinks.[5][11]
  • 1818 – the matrimony vine.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The state of being married; wedlock: They had lived forty years in happy matrimony.[13][7][5]
  2. The rite or sacrament of marriage.[13][7][5]
  3. A card game resembling Pope Joan.[13][7][5]
  4. The combination of a king and queen in this and other card games.[13][7][5]
  5. (slang, regional) A mixture of two foods or drinks.[5][11][14]
  6. (botany) The matrimony vine.[5]
  7. (obsolete) A marriage; a union formed by marriage.[5][14]
  8. (obsolete) A husband or wife.[5][14]

Word family

  • matrimonial
  • matrimonially
  • matrimony vine

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  4. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  12. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  14. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Matrimony.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/matrimony. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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