handfast meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

handfast

noun

Etymology From Middle English hondfast, past participle of Middle English hondfesten (“to betroth”), from Old Norse handfesta (“to strike a bargain, pledge”), itself from hönd (“hand”) + festa (“to fasten, fix, affirm”), perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *pHst-.

1

Obsolete A hold, grasp; custody, power of confining or keeping.

And the remembrancer of her to hold The hand-fast to her lord. I have given him that1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:

2

Obsolete A contract, agreement, covenant; specifically betrothal, espousal.

handfast

verb

Etymology From Middle English hondfast, past participle of Middle English hondfesten (“to betroth”), from Old Norse handfesta (“to strike a bargain, pledge”), itself from hönd (“hand”) + festa (“to fasten, fix, affirm”), perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *pHst-.

1

To pledge; to bind.

2

Scotland To betroth by joining hands, in order to allow for cohabitation before the celebration of marriage; to marry provisionally.

Archaic or historical except Wicca

No, Sir Priest or Sir Preacher, Catherine is not my wife— […] she is not my wife, but she is handfasted with me, and that makes her as honest a woman. [...] When we are handfasted, as we term it, we are man and wife for a year and a day—that space gone by, each may chuse another mate, or, at their pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life—and this we call handfasting.1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, pages 311–312:
Would the lass but consent to go abroad in the unhallowed place at this awful season and hour of the night, she was as firmly handfasted to the Devil as if she had signed a bond with her own blood; […]1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

handfast

adj

Etymology From Middle English hondfast, past participle of Middle English hondfesten (“to betroth”), from Old Norse handfesta (“to strike a bargain, pledge”), itself from hönd (“hand”) + festa (“to fasten, fix, affirm”), perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *pHst-.

1

Obsolete Fast by contract; betrothed by joining hands.

A vyrgine made handfast to Christ.1546, John Bale, The Actes of Englysh Votaries:

handfast

adj

Etymology Calque of German handfest, itself from Hand (“hand”) + fest (“firm, strong”).

1

Rare Strong; steadfast.

Derived terms: handfastly