Etymologically
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spouse

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /spaʊs/, /spaʊz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English spuse, borrowed from Old French spus (feminine spuse), a variant of espous (modern French époux),[2][3][4][5] from Latin spōnsus (“bridegroom”) and spōnsa (“bride”), the masculine and feminine past participles of spondeō (“to betroth, promise solemnly”),[2][6][3][1] from Proto-Indo-European *spend- (“to make an offering, perform a rite”) (see sponsor).[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A married woman, a wife: probably before 1200 in Barnhart, about 1200 in the OED.[2][7] Etymonline gives either partner of a married pair, especially the wife, about 1200.[6]

Semantic evolution

A husband or bridegroom is also recorded about 1200 in the OED,[7] while Barnhart's first example is about 1225, in King Horn.[2] From about 1200 the Church or a nun was called the spouse of Christ, and God or Christ the spouse of the Church or the soul.[7] The married state, wedlock, is an obsolete sense from about 1250.[7] The verb, to marry, is from about 1290,[7] and is now obsolete.[1] Spouse-breach (early 13th century) was an old name for adultery.[6] In an old Scots phrase, to spouse one's fortune was to put it out to nurse.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a wife; a husband.[7]
  • c. 1200 – spouse of Christ.[7]
  • early 13th century – spouse-breach, adultery.[6]
  • c. 1250 – wedlock (obsolete).[7]
  • c. 1290 – to spouse, marry.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A partner in marriage; a husband or wife.

Verb

  1. (obsolete) To marry.

Word family

  • spousal
  • spousehood
  • spouseless

References

  1. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  2. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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)