| A | B |
|---|
| dos, dotis | dowry |
| flammeum, i | saffron-colored bridal veil |
| confarreatio, confarreationis | patrician marriage ritual before 10 witnesses, representing each of the 10 original clans (gens) in Rome |
| sponsalia | bethrothal (engagement) celebration |
| sponsa | a name used for a woman who is legally bethrothed |
| repudio, repudiare | to scorn or to reject, as in divorce |
| conubium, - i | the right to intermarry |
| nubo, nubere, nupsi + DAT | to marry (literally, "to veil" |
| Lex Canuleia | 445 BCE; granted right of patrician-plebeian intermarriage |
| in manum viri | "into the hand of the husband": forms of marriage in which a woman is transferred legally to her husband's authority |
| usus | common-law marriage among plebeians "sine manu" if the wife stayed away for three nights each year |
| trinoctium abesse | "to be absent for three nights": legal loophole by which a woman maintains her property in common-law marriages |
| coemptio, coemptionis | a fictitious bride "sale" before five witnesses (in manum viri) probably reminiscent of ancient custom. Most common form of patrician-plebeian intermarriage |
| ius, iuris | legal system, right, justice, as opposed to "lex, legis," or "law" |
| auspicium, -i (usually found in plural form, "auspicia" | auspices (study of bird behavior to determine whether a marriage may occur) |
| anulum, -i | an iron ring presented to a sponsa by the prospective groom and worn on the third finger of the left hand. Romans believed a nerve ran directly from finger to heart! |
| tunica recta | a straight tunic knotted (the "Knot of Hercules," the guardian of wedded life) with wool (only the husband could remove the knot. |
| superstitio, superstitionis | superstition in general. Roman marriages could not be performed on days that were "nefas". May was out of the question due to the Lemuria, an observance placating the dead. |
| grooming of the bride | On the eve of the wedding, a bride's mother parts her hair into six sections with a spear and braids them, reminiscent of ancient bride capture. Note that Vestals wore their hair this way, a testament to the antiquity of the ritual) |
| Rape of the Sabine Women | first recorded bride capture by Romulus and his companions during games at Rome honoring Neptune |
| Fescinnine verses | Bawdy songs sung as the bridal procession left the wedding party and walked to the new abode. |
| O Talassio | ancient marriage cry: a name cried out in the ancient Fescinnine verses, possibly the name of the first senator to steal a Sabine bride, or the name of a Sabine divinity |
| Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia | words of consent as a bride was carried over the threshold, the door posts of which were anointed with oil and wound with wool (fat signifies abundance) |
| pronuba | matron of honor (a "univir," or a woman who had never married more than once) who conducted the bride to her husband's new home |
| in matrimonium ducere | to marry |
| far, farris | "spelt," a variety of wheat, from which the wedding cake was made |
| feliciter | shouted at a newly wedded couple: happily |
| camillus | a boy attending the wedding who carries utensils for ritual sacrifice (like a ringbearer today, although the Roman boy does not carry a ring). He must be the child of parents who are both still living. |
| Lares | the bride offers her toys / bulla to her ancestral spirits on the eve of the wedding |
| Juno/Hera | goddess of marriage |
| Catullus 64 | a rich source of marriage material as this carmen is a wedding hymn |
| nux, nucis | nuts, scattered by the groom after the ceremony (much as we scatter rice) to symbolize fruitfulness and the putting away of childish things, since children played games with nuts, especially during Saturnalia |
| atrium | location of the wedding couch for the first night of the marriage |
| Matronialia | holiday celebrating the Roman matron much like our own Mother's Day, celebrated on the Kalends of May |
| fire and water | ritual offerings from husband to wife during their first night together |
| the removal of the bride | symbolic of ancient bride capture, the groom wrests his wife away from the arms of her mother at the end of the wedding feast |
| the kindling of the torch | the bride kindles her first fire to Vesta in her new home with the wedding torch, then throws the torch to the waiting wedding guests (much like our brides toss flowers) |
| libra, ae | scale on which the bride price was placed in coemptio (the origin of our abbreviation "lb." for pound) |
| approval of paterfamilias | Boys of 14 and girls of 12 were deemed ready for marriage, with the consent of both heads of household |
| pulvinar, pulvinaris | wedding couch |
| faux, faucis | wedding torch |
