The word 'marry' entered English in the thirteenth century from Old French 'marier' (to wed, to give in marriage), itself from Latin 'marītāre' (to wed), from the noun 'marītus' (husband, married man). The deeper etymology of 'marītus' is debated: some scholars connect it to 'mās' (male), while others derive it from PIE *mer- (young woman), attested in Sanskrit 'maryā.'
The arrival of 'marry' in English created a lasting linguistic duality. Before the Norman Conquest of 1066, the Old English word for joining in marriage was 'weddian' (to pledge, to covenant), from Proto-Germanic *wadjōną (to pledge). After the Conquest, the French-derived 'marry' became the standard verb, while the native Germanic 'wed' was pushed into specialized and ceremonial use. Today we 'marry' someone at a 'wedding
Latin 'marītus' also produced the adjective 'marital' (pertaining to marriage or a husband), which entered English in the seventeenth century as a legal term. 'Matrimony,' another Latinate word for marriage, derives from a different root entirely — Latin 'mātrīmōnium,' from 'māter' (mother) + '-mōnium' (a suffix denoting a state or condition). Matrimony is etymologically 'the state of motherhood,' revealing the Roman legal understanding of marriage as primarily a mechanism for producing legitimate children.
The Germanic alternative 'wedlock' has its own fascinating etymology. It comes from Old English 'wedlāc,' from 'wedd' (pledge) + '-lāc' (a suffix meaning 'action, practice, gift-giving'). Wedlock is etymologically 'the practice of pledging' or 'the gift of a pledge.' The '-lock' ending has nothing to do with being locked in — it's a folk-etymological reinterpretation. The suffix '-lāc' appears in other
Across Indo-European languages, words for 'marry' tend to cluster around a few conceptual families: pledging (Germanic 'wed'), leading home (Greek 'gameō,' from a root meaning 'to lead'), and legal union (Latin 'marry'). The diversity of metaphors reveals the different aspects of marriage that different cultures chose to emphasize in their naming: the oath, the physical relocation of the bride, or the change in legal status.
The informal exclamation 'marry!' — used as a mild oath in Shakespeare and earlier English ('Marry, sir, by my troth' — Twelfth Night) — is actually unrelated. It derives from the name of the Virgin Mary, used as a softened oath. This collision of the verb 'marry' and the oath 'Marry!' has confused readers of Early Modern English for centuries.