Betrothing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of making a formal commitment to marry someone
2. The process of formally promising to wed another person
3. The state of being pledged to marriage before the ceremony

Etymology: The verb "betroth" is built from the prefix "be-" and the noun "troth," and its older core is a word meaning "faithfulness" or "truth." In Middle English, "troth" (spelled "trouth" or "treuthe") carried the sense of marital fidelity and of a promise, especially a promise to marry. The Old English ancestor, "trēowþ," meant fidelity, good faith and covenant, and it is tied to the idea of firmness, the same root that gave the word for "tree" in Proto-Indo-European. A pledge was thus imagined as something solid and dependable. Middle English speakers formed "bitrouthen" by attaching the prefix "bi-," which turned nouns into transitive verbs, so the verb meant to pledge oneself to marry or to arrange a marriage for someone. Over time the spelling shifted toward "betroth" and the "be-" form became the familiar one. The "-ing" ending on "betrothing" is simply the ordinary present participle and gerund suffix added to the verb, so the word keeps the same sense of plighting a troth that its medieval forerunners had.

Synonyms: engaging, promising, contracting, spousing, affiancing

Antonyms: divorcing, separating, dissolving, unengaging, unbetrothing