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Themon the Bard's avatar

"Marriage" in the sense of "husband" and "wife," is based on the concept of bride-price. It is transfer of the female, as property of her father (or other male in the family if the father is deceased), to the "husband," which is a term used equally for the raising of livestock, e.g. "animal husbandry."

The term quietly shifted in (I seem to remember) the mid-1800's, when "marriage" became about "love."

Certainly in the 1800's US, it was not uncommon for a man working land in the territories to purchase a wife outright as a "mail-order bride."

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