Grimm (_Deutsche Rechts Alterthumer_, vol. ii., p. 417.), after a long
dissertation, in which it appears that the money paid by the bridegroom
to the wife's relations (I believe subsequently also to the wife
herself) had every form of a _purchase_, possibly derived also from some
_symbolic_ customs common to all northern tribes, offers the following
as the origin of this word "morganatic:"--
"Es gab aber im Alterthum noch einen erlaubten Ausweg f¸r die
Verbindung vorneluner Männer mit geringen (freien und selbst
unfreien) Frauen, den _Concubinat_, der ohne feierliches
Verlˆbniss, ohne _Brautgabe_ und _Mitgift_ eingegangen wurde,
mithin _keine wahre und volle Ehe_, dennoch ein rechtmässiges
Verhältniss war.
"Da jedoch die Kirche ein solches Verhältniss missbilligte durch
keine Einsegnung weihte, so wurde es allmählich unerlaubt und
verboten als Ausnahme aber bis auf die neueste Zeit f¸r F¸rsten
zugelassen--ja durch Trauung an die linke Hand gefeiert. Die
Benennung Morganatische Ehe,--Matrimonium ad Morganaticam (11.
Feud. 29.), r¸hrt daher, dass _den Concubinen_ eine _Morgangabe_
(woraus im Mittelalter die Lombarden '_Morganatica_'
machten)--bewilligt zu werden pflegte--_es waren Ehen auf blosse
Morgengabe_. Den Beweis liefern Urkunden, die Morganatica f¸r
Morgengabe auch in Fallen gebrauchen wo von wahrer Ehe die Rede
ist." (See Heinecius, _Antiq_. 3. 157, 158.)
The case now stands thus:
It was the custom to give money to the wife's relations on the
marriage-day.
It was not the custom with respect to unequal marriage (Misheirath):
this took place "ohne Brautgabe und Mitgift," which was also of later
origin.
The exception made by the Church for _princes_, restored the woman so
far, that the marriage was legally and morally recognised by the Lombard
law and the Church, with exceptions as regards _issue_, and that the
left hand was given for the _right_.
With regard to this latter, it would be desirable to trace whether
giving of the hand had any _symbolic_ meaning. I think the
astrologists consider the right as the nobler part of the body; if so,
giving of _the left_ in this case is not without symbolic significance.
It must be remembered how much symbolism prevailed among the tribes
which swept Europe on the fall of the Roman empire, and their Eastern
origin.
The Morgengabe, according to Cancianus (_Leges Barbarorum_, tom. iv. p.
24.), was at first a _free gift_ made by the husband after the first
marriage night. This was carried to such excess, that Liutprand ordained
"Tamen ipsum Morgengabe volumus, ut non sit amplius nisi quarta
pars ejus substantia, qui ipsum Morgengabe dedit."
This became subsequently converted into a _right_ termed _justitia_.