Editing Handfasting (section)

== Etymology ==
The verb ''to handfast'' in the sense of "to formally promise, to make a contract" is recorded for [[Old English#Late Old English|Late Old English]], especially in the context of a contract of marriage. The derived ''handfasting'' as for a ceremony of engagement or betrothal, is recorded in [[Early Modern English]]. The term was presumably loaned into English from [[Old Norse]] '' handfesta'' "to strike a bargain by joining hands"; there are also comparanda from the [[Ingvaeonic languages]]: [[Old Frisian]] ''hondfestinge'' and [[Middle Low German]] ''hantvestinge''. The term is derived from the verb ''to handfast'', used in [[Middle English|Middle]] to Early Modern English for the making of a contract.<ref name="OED">{{Cite OED|handfast}}, n., v. and adj. and {{Cite OED|handfasting|short=yes}}, v. and n. "Old Norse hand-festa to strike a bargain by joining hands, to pledge, betroth" The earliest cited English use in connection with marital status is from a manuscript of c. 1200, when [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] is described as "handfast (to) a good man called [[Saint Joseph|Joseph]]". "?c1200 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 2389 "Ȝho wass hanndfesst an god mann Þatt iosæp wass ȝehatenn."</ref> In modern Dutch, "handvest" is the term for "pact" or "charter" (e.g., "Atlantisch handvest", "Handvest der Verenigde Naties"); cf. also the Italian loan word [[manifesto]] in English.