A NOTE ON MORGANATIC MARRIAGES

Grimm (*Deutsche Rechts Alterthumer*, vol. ii., p. 417.), after a long dissertation, in which it appears that the money paid by the bridegroom to the wife's relations (I believe subsequently also to the wife herself) had every form of a *purchase*, possibly derived also from some *symbolic* customs common to all northern tribes, offers the following as the origin of this word "morganatic:"— "Es gab aber im Alterthum noch einen erlaubten Ausweg für die Verbindung vorneluner Männer mit geringen (freien und selbst unfreien) Frauen, den *Concubinat*, der ohne feierliches Verlöbniss, ohne *Brautgab…