morganaticadj.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin morganaticus designating a morganatic marriage (1608 in a British source) < morganaticum morning gift (1310; compare earlier morganatica , 13th cent. or earlier in phrase accipere uxorem ad morganaticam , although interpretation of the meaning of the word in this phrase is uncertain), remodelling (see -atic suffix) of morganegyba (Gregory of Tours, 6th cent.) or its Germanic etymon (see moryeve n.). Compare other post-classical Latin forms: morgincaput, morganatio, morganatus. Compare post-classical Latin matrimonium ad morganaticam contractum (16th cent.), in which morganatica probably means ‘woman provided with a morning gift’, or perhaps simply ‘morning gift’. As explained in the French document in which this phrase is attested, the literal meaning is that the wife and any children that may be born are entitled to no share of the husband's possessions beyond the morning gift, i.e. the property given by the husband to his wife on the morning after their marriage. Compare French morganatique (1609 in an isolated attestation, subsequently from 1765; 1721 as †marganatique), German morganatisch (18th cent.), Italian morganatico (1855).The concept of the morganatic marriage is not found in English law. However, such marriages have been common among (especially German) royal houses, and it is chiefly with reference to these that the word is found in English. In sense 1 perhaps directly < post-classical Latin morganaticum morning gift.