1. Term and meaning
Betrothal (or engagement) is the term for the promise between a man and a woman to enter into marriage with each other. This understanding only came into its own in the early modern period. Previously betrothal was part of the marriage contraction (Marriage, contraction of) itself. The betrothal was distinguished from the wedding (originally the traditio puellae, the “handing over of the bride”), which followed as a n…