merchet/marchet
Jun. 12th, 2009 07:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordmerchet or marchet - n., in medieval law, a fine paid by a tenant to his lord upon the marriage of his daughter.
The legal theory being that said lord is losing her labor. One would think it would only be paid if she married someone on another estate, but that's not clear. Origin of the name is disputed: Websters gives the Latin form marcheta "of uncertain origin"; Encarta insists on the Latin root merc-, merchendize; while Wikipedia traces it without citation to Welsh merched, daughters, even though the term is also used throughout England and Scotland.
---L.
The legal theory being that said lord is losing her labor. One would think it would only be paid if she married someone on another estate, but that's not clear. Origin of the name is disputed: Websters gives the Latin form marcheta "of uncertain origin"; Encarta insists on the Latin root merc-, merchendize; while Wikipedia traces it without citation to Welsh merched, daughters, even though the term is also used throughout England and Scotland.
---L.
