to buy a maid by

(gen. -ar), m. the sum which the bridegroom had to pay for his bride, and which after the wedding became her own property.

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m., gen. mundar, dat. mundi; [cp. O. H. G. munt, whence low Lat. mundium = tutelage in the old Teut. laws; women are said to live ‘sub mundio’ of their parents and husbands, Du Cange, s. v.; cp. also Germ. vor-mund = a guardian, and mündling = a minor or a person living under tutelage; perh. akin to mund ( hand), as hand and authority are kindred notions. So in Lat. phrases, in manu parentis, manumissio, etc., used of minors, slaves. In Norse the word is used in a special sense.]

B. In the ancient laws and customs matrimony was a bargain (brúð-kaup), hence the phrase to buy a wife, kaupa konu; the wooing was often performed by a deputy, and at the espousals (festar) a sum was agreed on, which the bridegroom was to pay for his bride. This sum was called mundr; and this transaction between the damsel’s father or guardian and the other party was called mundar-mál or mund-mál, e. g. Nj. ch. 2, Mörðr (the father) svarar, hugsað hefi ek kostinn, hón (i. e. my daughter, the damsel) skal hafa sextigi hundraða, ok skal aukask þriðjungi í þínum garði: hence the phrases, kaupa mey mundi, to buy a maid by mund; mey mundi keypt; gjalda mund, Skv. 1. 30, Fm. 41, N. G. L. i. 27, 48, Am. 93, and passim. No marriage was lawful without the payment of mund, for even if the wedding had been lawfully performed, without such previous payment of mund the sons of such a wedlock were illegitimate, and were called hornung (q. v.),—hann kallaði ykkr frillu-sonu,—Hárekr sagði at þeir mundi vitni til fá at móðir þeirra var mundi keypt, Eg. 40; the least amount of mund in Norway was twelve ounces, called the poor man’s mund (öreiga mundr), N. G. L. i. 27, 54; in Iceland it was a mark, sá maðr er eigi arfgengr er móðir hans er eigi mundi keypt, mörk eða meira fé, Grág. (Kb.) i. 222. On the wedding night the stipulated mund became the wife’s personal property, and thus bears some resemblance to the ‘morning-gift’ (morgun-gjöf) of the later legislation; þá er hjú koma í eina sæing, at þá er konu heimill mundr sinn ok svá vextir af fé því öllu er henni er mælt í mundar-málum, Grág. i. 370. The wife herself or her parents might, in case of divorce after misconduct, call on the husband to pay up the mund and the heiman-fylgja (q. v.) of which he had the charge, Grág. Festaþ. ch. 51; ella mun ek láta nefna mér vátta nú þegar, ok segja skilit við þik, ok mun ek láta föður minn heimta mund minn ok heiman-fylgju, Gísl. 16 (p. 32 in Mr. Dasent’s Gisli the Outlaw), cp. also Yngl. S. ch. 17; nefndi Mörðr (the father) sér vátta, ok lýsti fésök á hendr Rúti (the husband) um fémál dóttur sinnar ok taldi níutigi hundraða fjár, lýsti hann til gjalda ok útgreiðslu, Nj. 15 and Dasent’s Burnt Njal (l. c.), the Sagas passim, at abo Grág., esp. the section Festaþ. ch. vii. sqq. The mundr therefore was different to the dowry (heiman-fylgja), and has nothing answering to it in the modern law, nor perhaps in the old Greek or Roman customs; hence Tacitus speaks of it as something strange, dotem non uxor marito, sed maritus uxori affert. Germ. ch. 18. On the other hand, the Teutonic rites of marriage call to mind the ancient patriarchal times as described in Gen. xxiv and xxix. The etymological connection between mundium = tutelage and the Norse word is not altogether clear. In modern Icelandic usage heiman-mundr is erroneouslv used instead of heiman-fylgja, q. v.