Wiktionary

morganatic

English

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Etymology

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From New Latin morganāticus, from the Medieval Latin phrase mātrimōnium ad morganāticum, from Proto-Germanic *murgnagebō (“morning gift”) (whence Old English morgenġiefu).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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morganatic (not comparable)

  1. Designating a marriage (or the wife involved) between a man of higher rank and a woman of lower rank, often having various legal repercussions (typically that such a wife has no claim on the husband's possessions or title). It was not an aspect of English law, but was common in other royal houses, especially in Germany.
    • 1914 June 29, “Assassination of the Austrian royal heir and wife”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      Francis Ferdinand's marriage was a morganatic alliance, and in consequence of a declaration which he made when contracting it, his children do not inherit his rights to the Austrian crown.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
      we have this day repudiated our former spouse and have bestowed our royal hand upon the princess Selene, the splendour of the night. (The former morganatic spouse of Bloom is hastily removed in the Black Maria.)
    • 1941, Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: The Record of a Journey through Yugoslavia in 1937, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1946, →OCLC, page 380:
      Because of her noble birth, she bitterly resented her position as a morganatic wife.
    • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 19:
      Louis's association with the pious widow, Madame de Maintenon (with whom he contracted a morganatic marriage in 1684) had led to a new tone of piety, even prudery, at court.
    • 2005 February 11, Stephen Bates, “For the Church of England, marriage comes as a relief”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      This will not be a morganatic marriage—one where titles are not passed to any children—the prince and Mrs Parker Bowles being beyond the usual age of procreation and so unlikely to have new heirs to complicate matters.
    • 2006, Marsha Keith Schuchard, Why Mrs Blake Cried, Pimlico, published 2007, page 149:
      After her death, he arranged a morganatic marriage with Anna in 1757, which made him even more vulnerable to charges of sexual impropriety.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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