Saturday, December 12, 2009

AskOxford: Word of the Day

Word of the Day from AskOxford: www.askoxford.com

morganatic
adjective relating to or denoting a marriage in which neither the spouse of lower rank, nor any children, have any claim to the possessions or title of the spouse of higher rank.
derivatives
morganatically adverb.
origin early 18th cent.: from modern Latin morganaticus, from medieval Latin matrimonium ad morganaticam ‘marriage with a morning gift’ (because a morning gift, given by a husband to his wife on the morning after the marriage, was the wife's sole entitlement in a marriage of this kind).

Pronunciation available online: www.askoxford.com

Source: Oxford Dictionary of English
www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780198610571


Useful links from around OUP

Find out about OUP's Online Products:
www.oup.com/online

Sign up for Words of the Day in French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, or Chinese at www.oxfordlanguagedictionaries.com - now with audio!

Special offer

disgo and busbi USB keys - preloaded with a 30 day trial of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary:
www.clever-stuff.ie


We hope you have enjoyed your word of the day.

However, if you wish to be removed from the mailing list please visit:
www.askoxford.com/contactus/email

Copyright © Oxford University Press 2008

Oxford University Press (UK) Disclaimer

This message is confidential. You should not copy it or disclose its contents to anyone. You may use and apply the information for the intended purpose only. OUP does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message. Any views or opinions presented are those of the author only and not of OUP. If this email has come to you in error, please delete it, along with any attachments. Please note that OUP may intercept incoming and outgoing email communications.

No comments: