mund

…reflects the transfer of the mund (Old English: “hand”) to the bridegroom. In some systems the marriage forms may have a “bride purchase” origin, in the sense of compensation to her family (though there are differences of opinion as to the meaning of the customary forms); this was true in…

…whose members were under the mund (guardianship) of the family head. A boy remained in his father’s mund until he was emancipated on attaining physical maturity; a girl remained until she married, when she passed into the mund of her husband. Marriage commonly took the form of the sale of…