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HUSBAND

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 1 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HUSBAND , properly the " See also:

head of a See also:household," but now chiefly used in the sense of a See also:man legally joined by See also:marriage to a woman, his " wife "; the legal relations between them are treated below under HUSBAND AND WIFE. The word appears in O. Eng. as hiisbonda, answering to the Old See also:Norwegian hiisb6ndi, and means the owner or freeholder of a hus, or See also:house. The last See also:part of the word still survives in " bondage " and " See also:bond-man," and is derived from bua, to dwell, which, like See also:Lat. colere, means also to till or cultivate, and to have a household. " Wife," in O. Eng. wif, appears in all See also:Teutonic See also:languages except See also:Gothic; cf. Ger. Weib, Dutch wijf, &c., and meant originally simply a See also:female, " woman " itself being derived from wifman, the See also:pronunciation of the plural wimmen still preserving the See also:original i. Many derivations of " wife " have been given; thus it has been connected with the See also:root of " weave," with the Gothic waibjan, to See also:fold or wrap up, referring to the entangling clothes worn by a woman, and also with the root of vibrare, to tremble. These are all merely guesses, and the ultimate See also:history of the word is lost. It does not appear outside Teutonic languages. Parallel to " husband " is " housewife," the woman managing a household.

The earlier hiswif was pronounced hussif, and this pronunciation survives in the application of the word to a small See also:

case containing See also:scissors, needles and pins, cottons, &c. From this See also:form also derives " hussy," now only used in a depreciatory sense of a See also:light, impertinent girl. Beyond the meaning of a husband as a married man, the word appears in connexion with See also:agriculture, in " husbandry " and " husbandman." According to some authorities " husbandman " meant originally in the See also:north of See also:England a holder of a " husbandlnd," a manorial See also:tenant who held two ox-gangs or virgates, and ranked next below the See also:yeoman (see J. C. See also:Atkinson in Notes and Queries, 6th See also:series, vol. xii., and E. See also:Bateson, History of See also:Northumberland, 1893). From the See also:idea of the manager of a household, " husband " was in use transferred to the manager of an See also:estate, and the See also:title was held by certain officials, especially in the See also:great trading companies. Thus the "husband" of the See also:East See also:India See also:Company looked after the interests of the company at the See also:custom-house. The word in this sense is practically obsolete, but it still appears in " See also:ship's husband," an See also:agent of the owners of a ship who looks to the proper equipping of the See also:vessel, and her See also:repairs, procures and adjusts freights, keeps the accounts, makescharter-parties and acts generally as manager of the ship's employment. Where such an agent is himself one of the owners of the vessel, the name of " managing owner " is used. The " ship's husband " or " managing owner " must See also:register his name and address at the See also:port of registry (See also:Merchant See also:Shipping See also:Act 1894, § 59). From the use of " husband " for a See also:good and thrifty manager of a household, the verb " to husband " means to economize, to See also:lay up a See also:store, to See also:save.

End of Article: HUSBAND

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