wedding

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wedding,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English weddung (“betrothal, espousal”),^[5][6][7][8] a verbal noun formed from Old English weddian + -ung,^[2][3][9] the Old English source of the verb wed.^[10][11] The verb meant to pledge oneself, covenant or vow, and to betroth or marry,^[5][12][13] and goes back to Proto-Germanic *wadjōną (“to pledge”),^[1][14] formed from *wadją (“pledge”), the source also of engage, wage and wager.^[1][15][13] Its cognates are German wetten (“to bet, wager”), Old Norse veðja (“to pledge, wager”), Old Frisian weddia (“to promise”) and Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌾𐍉𐌽 (gawadjōn, “to betroth”).^{[5][3][13][15]} Etymonline, following Watkins, traces the root to Proto-Indo-European *wadh- (“to pledge, redeem a pledge”), also the source of Latin vas (“bail, security”), but notes that Boutkan suspects a substrate origin.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Betrothal, espousal: in the Old English Gospel of Nicodemus, where Pilate tells the crowd that the betrothal had been made as their own customs require.^[6][10] Etymonline glosses Old English weddung as the state of being wed, a pledge or betrothal, and the act of marrying.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense "marriage ceremony with its festivities" is recorded from about 1300, in King Horn,^[10] or from the early 13th century in Etymonline's dating.^[5] Old English had other words for the ceremony, among them Old English wif-þing, with thing in its old sense "meeting, assembly".^[5] The specialisation of the verb wed to "marry" is found only in English; in the other Germanic languages it stayed closer to "pledge", as in Wette (“bet, wager”).^[5] Late Middle English still used wedding occasionally for a close union and for pledging or wagering, senses recorded from about 1380 to 1503.^[10] Chaucer used the word 18 times.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as marriage, nuptials, the nuptial ceremony.^[16] Many compounds followed: wedding ring from the late 14th century, wedding day by the 1550s, wedding cake from the 1640s and wedding dress from 1779.^[5] Silver wedding, the 25th anniversary, is recorded from 1850 and follows Silberhochzeit.^[10] In Scotland and northern English dialect, wedding-lines was a marriage certificate and wedding-baws the money tossed to the crowd at a wedding.^[17] In 18th-century London slang a wedding was the emptying of a privy, perhaps from weeding.^[18]

Timeline

• Old English – weddung, betrothal, espousal.^[6][10]
• c. 1300 – the marriage ceremony with its festivities, in King Horn.^[10] Etymonline dates this sense to the early 13th century.^[5]
• c. 1380 – close union; the action of pledging or wagering (obsolete after 1503).^[10]
• late 14th century – wedding ring.^[5]
• 1640s – wedding cake.^[5]
• 1779 – wedding dress.^[5]
• 1785 – slang, the emptying of a privy, in Grose's dictionary.^[18]
• 1850 – silver wedding, a 25th wedding anniversary.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A marriage ceremony, usually with the festivities that go with it; nuptials: They held the wedding in her grandmother's garden.^[2][19][10]
2. A wedding anniversary, in combinations such as silver wedding and golden wedding.^[2][19]
3. A close joining or blending of two different elements: a wedding of jazz and folk song.^[2][19]
4. (obsolete) The married state; wedlock.^[10][11]

Word family

• wedding-cake
• golden wedding
• shotgun wedding
• silver wedding
• wedding band
• wedding ring
• wedding day

Related words

• wed
• wedlock
• engage
• wage
• wager
• gage

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ Clark Hall, J. R. (1960), A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 4th ed., with a supplement by H. D. Meritt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
13. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Germanisches Wörterbuch, 5th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
15. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ 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)
18. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
19. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins