# English: Spouse



## adrianrciii

I've been reading various dictionaries, thesaurus, and etymology dictionaries lately.  I don't really have a specific purpose really, it's just to read them.
I'm sure that I read that in olden times the word "spouse" was also used for "handcuffs".
In the Spanish language the word for "wife" (esposa) also means "handcuffs" (esposas).
I'm starting to wonder if I dreamt that about the word "spouse" because I have been reading so many dictionaries.  This is starting to drive me a little crazy because I haven't been able to find that defenition again.
Can anybody help me confirm that I am either correct or crazy?

Thank you in advance!


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## SunnyS

So do you have any Spanish etymology dictionaries online which tell you where both "esposas" come from? 

spouse  
c.1200,  "a  married  woman  in  relation  to  her  husband"  (also  of  men),  from  O.Fr.  spus   (fem.  spuse  ), from  L.  sponsus   "bridegroom"  (fem.  sponsa   "bride"),  from  masc.  and  fem.  pp.  of  spondere   *"to  bind  **oneself*,  promise  solemnly,"  from  PIE  *spend-   "to  make  an  offering,  perform  a  rite"

Maybe the Spanish _handcuffs _originate with "bind."
<<...>>


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## Myridon

The REA Diccionario says esposa for handcuff has the same Latin root - bridegroom.
"Handcuffs" is not a common idiom in English for spouse though I'm sure someone has probably used it as a metaphor.  We do tie the knot with the old ball and chain, though.


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## Rana_pipiens

English has used slang terms such as "ball and chain" or "leg shackle"  to refer to a spouse (usually the wife). I haven't ever come across  "handcuff" in that context.

With such meaning pairs as _wife/handcuffs_ for a word,  I always wonder which meaning came first and which was originally metaphorical, or  whether two separate meanings, sometimes with totally unconnected  etymologies, converged onto the word. Since wives predate handcuffs, and  there are cognates for _esposa_ meaning spouse in other languages, _spouse_  would logically be the older meaning. I can imagine, when handcuffs  were new,  some Spanish-speaking guy facetiously referring to them as a  "wife."


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## artion

This "metaphore" is well established after millions of marriages. In Greek the official word for husband or wife is σύζυγος (syzygos), from syn (con) and zygos (the wooden bar fastened over the necks of a pair of animals who pull the plow or a cart). Literally, man and wife are *bound* together like animals to drag a burden! Also, quite often we officially refer to the marriage as "desmos" (bondage).


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## Hermione Golightly

Um...... 'spouse' in English is a useful word which can mean either husband or wife!   There's almost the same word in French except we know whether we are   referring to a husband or a wife in French because of  the  articles and   the ending of the word which both indicate gender. 

 I thought it must be impossible that 'spouse' could have _any _relationship   at all to 'handcuffs', but I took a walk in the OED, looking up 'wedlock' first, which is a quaint  word  for marriage. That led me to 'handfast', an obsolete term for   'betrothal', ('engagement' these days) which historically at times could be almost the equivalent   of marriage, but much easier to get out of, if for example the relationship was childless.
An alternative meaning of 'handfast' was 'manacled' (noted end 16th and early 17th century).

I seem to recall that in some forms of wedding ceremony in other parts of the world the wrists of the couple are bound together.

So, by  a bizarre round-about OED route, there is _some _  remote connection of idea  beween 'spouse' and 'handcuffs'. I can't see what it is etymologoically though. Linguistically,  nowadays there is none  at all.  The word 'spouse' can't be replaced by  'handcuffs', nor vice  -versa, and, joking apart, there is no obvious  association.
Of course, until recent decades, it is women who have been shackled to men and who very often still are, in grim reality.

We do have the word 'conjugal', for example in the phrase 'conjugal rights', meaning the supposed right of a spouse to have sexual relations with the other. The '-jugal' is etymologically related to 'yoke', the name of the shaped piece  wood that went round and across the animals' necks, or as used by a person to carry pails.

Hermione


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## Maroseika

artion said:


> This "metaphore" is well established after millions of marriages. In Greek the official word for husband or wife is σύζυγος (syzygos), from syn (con) and zygos (the wooden bar fastened over the necks of a pair of animals who pull the plow or a cart). Literally, man and wife are *bound* together like animals to drag a burden!


Interestingly, in Russian we also have the word супруг (spouse) which is a cognate of упряжка (harness). However they are only cognates and have nothing to do with each other, both referring to the word meaning "to bind" (<*pręgǫ). 
So most likley σύζυγος also doesn't refer to the pair of animals directly, but both words mean the same thing - binding.


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## artion

Hermione Golightly said:


> The '-jugal' is etymologically related to 'yoke', the name of the shaped piece  wood that went round and across the animals' necks, or as used by a person to carry pails.



Sounds more similar to the "*zygos*" I mentioned in my post above. Con-jugal is mot-a-mot transcription of the Gr. sy-zygos.


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## MRossi

I tried to make a little search,i don t know if ancient greek inherited it from another language but:

*σ**π**ε**ν**δ**ω(A.G.)* ,has strange meanings,like to spill, to make an offer to divinities, and so on, but also some interesting meanings like to make an arrangement,to create an alliance, to create a league.On italian a league is lega, and the verb legare means to lash someone with a rope.

A derivative of *σ**π**ε**ν**δ**ω  *is* σ**π**ο**ν**δ**η* which has a more restricted meaning ,it is a word more "juridical-military",*σ**π**ο**ν**δ**η *means convention,contract,treaty,pact,league.But still has nothing related with a marriage.

In this form jumped into Latin becoming *spondeo* (from *spondeo* should come the words like sposa esposa spouse and so on).On latin *spondeo* means to promise something,to ensure somenthing ,to secure something ,*to be obliged to make something,to promise someone as bride .*

*To be obliged to make something,To promise someone as bride
*,an obligation is something that don t let you to move,act freely, it is somehow a bind,a chain .

A synonim of bind is oblige,obligate .

http://www.synonyms.net/synonym/bind%20


> 2. (verb) adhere, hold fast, bond, *bind*, stick,
> *Synonyms: *stand by, stupefy, stick by, baffle, attach, perplex, tie up, cleave, bond, get, mystify, bandage,flummox, cling, bind, cohere, truss, stick around, constipate, nonplus, beat, draw together, stick, dumbfound,adhere, follow, *obligate*, lodge, sting, hold fast, tie,* oblige*, ...etc


Probably someone linked ,like in a pun,the two concepts,but i don t know where or /and when it happened.

I hope you understood it,because if for me it is enough clear,maybe for you, due to my bad english,is still unclear.
​


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## Maroseika

Hermione Golightly said:


> The '-jugal' is etymologically related to 'yoke', the name of the shaped piece  wood that went round and across the animals' necks, or as used by a person to carry pails.



Exactly like in Russian and maybe like in Greek, conjugal doesn't refer to yoke directly, but both originate from the word meaning "to join".


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## elirlandes

Similarly, in English "to wed" means to join something. I imagine that handcuffs are called "esposas" because they wed/join/bind one hand to the other.


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## origumi

Maroseika said:


> Exactly like in Russian and maybe like in Greek, conjugal doesn't refer to yoke directly, but both originate from the word meaning "to join".


Hebrew borrowed Greek _zeugos_ (or _zugos_) in Hellenistic times (circa 2000 years ago, pronounced in Hebrew _zug_), with the meaning of pair, couple, but not so much _join_ and certainly not _yoke_. Therefore it seems that the Greek word development is yoke (the wooden beam connecting a couple of oxen) -> couple -> married couple. If correct, it does not hint that marriage is a burden (in contrary to what may be the case for Spanish _esposa)_.


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## hadronic

origumi said:


> Hebrew borrowed Greek _zeugos_ (or _zugos_) in Hellenistic times (circa 2000 years ago, pronounced in Hebrew _zug_)



Would it mean that _zawj_, Arabic for "husband", cognate with Hebrew _zug_, also comes from Greek ?


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## origumi

hadronic said:


> Would it mean that _zawj_, Arabic for "husband", cognate with Hebrew _zug_, also comes from Greek ?


 
According to http://www.freeweb.hu/etymological/AEDweb.htm:


> *zauj*: husband; couple [from Gre zeugon] Per zouj, Tur zevc borrowed from Ar


But let's wait for an Arabic expert to answer.


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## MRossi

ausum said:


> Both terms share the same etymological root. They  come from the latin term spondere (to promise). According to Larousse's  dictionary:*Esposo/sa:* Voz patrimonial del latín  sponsus ‘prometido’, participio de spondere ‘prometer’; a lo largo de la  historia del español ha pasado de ‘prometido’ a ‘persona que ha  contraído esponsales’. ​Hence it's the association with the bond between spouses that passed to the term _esposas,_ meaning handcuffs.



Conjugal and so on

From cum+iungo(iungere)

Iungo (Iungere ):

http://latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=1008875&p2=i


> to join together, unite, connect, attach, fasten, yoke, harness
> to harness, yoke, attach
> [in P. pass.] adjoining, continuous with
> [of troops] to join, unite
> to add, give in addition
> to make by joining


ζυγος (zygos)/ζυγοv (zygon) :
http://studybible.info/strongs/G2218



> Derivation: from the root of ζεύγνυμι (Zeugnumi) (to join, especially by a "yoke");


ζεύγνυμι (Zeugnumi):

My A.Greek Dictionary states


> from sanskrit or cognate with sanskrit [yuj](it is unclear) To Yoke,To Marry,To Join,etc


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