• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

a husband is frightened of his second wife

Matchmaking

Until relatively recently in the West, open relationships of a premarital kind were not the norm. The Dutch described unmarried couples who lived together as hokken, literally, living in a pigsty together. In many other parts of the world such a set-up still wouldn’t even be considered. The aim of society is to get a man and woman up the aisle, round the fire, or over the threshold:

gökyüzünde düğün var deseler, kadinlar merdiven kurmaya kalkar (Turkish proverb) if they say there is a wedding in the sky, women will try to put up a ladder

giftekniv (Norwegian) a person trying to get two people married

xem mat (Vietnamese) to see a candidate bride before deciding on the marriage

dulang (Manobo, Philippines) to arrange an auspicious marriage, especially between members of two opposing factions in order to bring about peace

sunkiya (Pali, India) the price paid for a wife

Objecting

Not that the young people in question always agree:

tlatlavala (Tsonga, South Africa) to refuse to marry the person selected for one by the family

kestë’shâétkë’ (Mingo, USA) to object to a marriage

luyam (Manobo, Philippines) to hide one’s true intentions in order to throw someone off guard so that one’s real wishes can be carried out (for example, a girl who has resisted efforts to have her married then seems to change her mind so that she will not be watched, and she is thus able to run away)

Camel life

For women, at least, society could always hold the threat that they would end up alone:

ntingitihomu (Tsonga, South Africa) a girl that nobody wishes to marry

momá’kó’éné (Cheyenne, USA) having red eyes from crying because one’s boyfriend got married to someone else

kurisumasu keiki (Japanese) leftover Christmas cake (traditionally applied to women over twenty-five years old)

quedar(se) a (para) vestir santos (Latin American Spanish) to be left unmarried (literally, to be left to dress figures of saints)

radudaraifu (Japanese) single women who spend much of their weekends cooking food and deep-freezing it so that it can be reheated in a hurry when they return late from work (literally, camel life)

gattara (Italian) a woman, often old and lonely, who devotes herself to stray cats

Old hat

In France the expression for an unmarried woman was even backed up by a festival. Coiffer Sainte Catherine meant to remain single after the age of twenty-five (literally, to put a headdress on St Catherine). From the Middle Ages, St Catherine has traditionally been the patron saint of young girls. On 25 November each year, girls would make beautiful headdresses to decorate statues of the saint. Unmarried women over twenty-five would attend a dance, wearing hats that they had made specially for the occasion, while everyone around wished them a rapid end to their spinsterhood.

Bare branches

However, since the implementation of the Chinese ‘one child’ policy things are changing in one part of the world at least:

gagung (Cantonese) a man who has no woman because of the inequality of the gender ratio (literally, bare branches)

False friends

chosen (Yiddish) bridegroom

dig in (Armenian) wife

fear (Irish) man

he (Hebrew) she

mama (Hindi) uncle

self (Egyptian Arabic) brother-in-law

that (Vietnamese) wife

Stalker

Of course, in all societies there have always been determined suitors:

baling (Manobo, Philippines) the action of an unmarried woman who, when she wants to marry a certain man, goes to his house and refuses to leave until the marriage is agreed upon

nusukaaktuat (Iñupiat, Inuit) grabbing a wife, ensuring marriage by capturing her

Regular footing

There are all kinds of reasons why people want to tie the knot:

se ranger (French) to get married for domestic comfort and put life on a regular footing

ikabaebae (Gilbertese, Oceania) to be engaged from childhood

damoz (Amharic, Ethiopia) a temporary marriage arrangement, usually for pay, between a man who is away on his travels and a woman who is his companion