dowries
Marriage wealth transfers
Dowries is the plural of dowry, the money, property, or goods a bride's family provides to the groom or his family upon marriage.
The practice varies across cultures and eras: Dowries were negotiated months before the wedding.
In some traditions, dowries secured a woman's financial standing; in others, they functioned as payment to the groom's family.
Woman getting married
- groomBetrothed man; stable worker
- weddingMarriage rite and feast
- betrothalFormal marriage agreement
- matchmakingArranging romantic connections
nuptials · trousseau · engagement · fiancé · fiancée · bridal · matrimony · union
Owned items of value
- jewelryOrnamental personal accessories
- goldElement seventy-nine
- propertySomething owned or inherent
- landEarth's solid surface
inheritance · fortune · estate · funds · linens · furniture · cattle · livestock
Habitual group practice
- heritageInherited cultural legacy
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- ancestryFamily line of descent
- cultureCollective social practices
lineage · patrimony · convention · practice · norms · observance · rites · folklore
Payment for marriage rights
- bargainingNegotiating mutually acceptable terms
- agreementShared position between parties
- contractEnforceable written agreement
- termsConditions of an agreement
demands · gifts · exchange · families · matchmaker · intermediary · settlement · valuation
Authoritative legal ban
- legislationOfficial enactment of statutes
- lawBinding principle or regulation
- abuseCruel or violent treatment
- extortionObtaining through threats
harassment · protection · court · prosecution · reform · criminalization · victim · enforcement
bride
Woman getting married
matchmaking · nuptials · trousseau · engagement · fiancé · fiancée · bridal · matrimony · union · ceremony
assets
Owned items of value
land · inheritance · fortune · estate · funds · linens · furniture · cattle · livestock · valuables
custom
Habitual group practice
culture · lineage · patrimony · convention · practice · norms · observance · rites · folklore · mores
bride-price
Payment for marriage rights
- bargainingNegotiating mutually acceptable terms
- agreementShared position between parties
- contractEnforceable written agreement
terms · demands · gifts · exchange · families · matchmaker · intermediary · settlement · valuation · compensation
prohibition
Authoritative legal ban
- legislationOfficial enactment of statutes
- lawBinding principle or regulation
- abuseCruel or violent treatment
extortion · harassment · protection · court · prosecution · reform · criminalization · victim · enforcement · coercion
- high societygossip, socialites, socialite, aristocrats, aristocrat
- Edwardian BritainEdward VII, Queen Victoria, country houses, manor houses, servants
- Regency SocietyRegency, manners, etiquette, courtship, ballrooms
- sexual customssexual norms, sexual taboos, marriage customs, courtship, virginity
- Georgian customsbowing, curtsying, courtly manners, social graces, polite society
- Medieval Patronageart commissions, royal courts, noble houses, court artists, cathedral building
dowriesalimony
Court-ordered post-divorce payments
divorce settlements · palimony · spousal support · maintenance payments · property division