I have been told that it is important that I understand the meaning of this engagement. So I have checked up. Engagement is closely related to a mortgage (note the gage in both), and to a wager, which I would have suspected. The original sense was to pawn something, or offer it as a guarantee.
By the 1600s it had become an obligation or an "encumbrance" according to the OED and referred to any debt or oath legal, moral or financial. Debts and duties get you tangled up in things, and so by 1642 an engagement could be defined as the fact of being entangled, and by 1665 two armies could get together in a military engagement and try to shoot each other.
In 1811 an engagement could mean a social appointment, as in otherwise engaged, or it could be a promise to pay (1849) or an appointment to a salaried post (1884).
But to me, and to that young lady, engagement means all of these things at once.
I then discovered that an engagement can also be a formal promise to get married. I hadn't noticed this at first, as the meaning only really separated itself in the early nineteenth century. The lady then informed me of the existence of "engagement rings", which I hadn't heard of as the OED only records the term from 1861, and I'm bad at keeping up with the news.
I tracked down their first citation for the word engagement ring, just to get myself up-to-date. It reads thus:
If a gentleman wants a wife, he wears a diamond ring on the first finger of the left hand; if he is engaged, he wears it on the second finger; if married, on the third; and on the fourth, if he never intends to be married. When a lady is not engaged, she wears a hoop or diamond on the first finger; if engaged, on the second finger; if married, on the third; and on the fourth, if she intends to live single.
This paragraph has caused me much confusion, as I've noticed that my fiancée is already married and that I am no gentleman at all.
I also suspect that, somehow, I'm owed a diamond ring.
Posts
Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteBravo, sir. Did you fall, or were you pushed (re the muddied knee)
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Clever and witty!
DeleteA hearty congratulations to you and your fiancee!
ReplyDeleteWonderful. I am in favor of marriage, having done it many times.
ReplyDeleteWait. That came out wrong.
Congratulations! <3
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I've been reading your book "Eloquence" and just thought I'd check out your blog! Best wishes to both of you!
ReplyDeletePS I'm loving your book!
DeleteCongratulations to you both!
ReplyDeleteBelated congratulations! And thank you so much for your books. I’ve just recently discovered this treasure trove and can’t stop reading 😃 I’m particularly grateful for those words you put at the very end of your “The Elements of Eloquence”, criticising the “bleak and imbecilic idea that the aim of writing is to express yourself clearly and in plain…”. Striving to write more, wanting to get those ideas out lest I burst, I’ve always felt impaired by various criticisms around my “wordiness” or “unusual collocations”. Which is, of course, sometimes true, but there also lies creativity that’d been suppressed until I read that sentence. It was like a gulp of fresh air, that’s encouraged me to set that inner muse free. Thank you again, to you and Andrea, and many blessings to you and your fiancée (or maybe wife). V.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the wedding and thank you for your books! I’ve just recently devoured two of your books and found it almost impossible to stop reading. I would especially like to thank you for the words at the very end of “The Elements of Eloquence” where you criticise “the bleak and imbecilic idea that the aim of writing is to express yourself clearly in plain simple English...“. Striving to let out all those ideas and stories lest I burst, I’d always felt held back by criticism of my “wordiness” and “unusual collocations”. Your message was like a long overdue gulp of fresh air that set that muse free. Many thanks to you and Andrea, it’s been a pivotal moment for me. Many blessings to you and your fiancee (or, perhaps, wife already).
ReplyDeleteP.S. I think my anonymous message hasn't come through, but maybe it will. Anyway, I felt that urge to thank you for your work and would be sorry if it didn't.