hymeneal

See also: hymenial and hymenal

WOTD – 29 April 2011

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin hymenaeus (from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ὑμεναῖος (humenaîos, “matrimonial”)) +‎ -al. Compare hymen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hʌɪməˈniːəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

hymeneal (comparative more hymeneal, superlative most hymeneal)

1. Pertaining to marriage.
   • 1806, Jane West, Letters to a Young Lady, volume I:

     I consider these more as the privileges of age, than as part of the hymeneal dowry.

   • 1831, Anna Maria Winter, Thoughts on the Moral Order of Nature, vol. III, IV.3.vii:

     It seems to me that girls ought to be early taught to discriminate, between the characteristic of a hymeneal connexion and of a dishonourable one apparently resembling it.

   • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, p. 348:

     "My dear Copperfield," said Mr. Micawber. "This is luxurious. This is a way of life which reminds me of the period when I was myself in a state of celibacy, and Mrs. Micawber had not yet solicited to plight her faith at the "Hymeneal" altar."

   • 1897, Henry James, The Spoils of Poynton:

     Mrs. Gereth evidently thought in these days of little but things hymeneal; for she broke out with sudden rapture in the middle of the week: "I know what they'll do: they will marry, but they'll go and live at Waterbath!"

   • 1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “From the Cabby’s Seat”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 165:

     In the fulness of time there was an eruption of the merry-makers to the sidewalk. The uninvited guests enveloped and permeated them, and upon the night air rose joyous cries, congratulations, laughter and unclassified noises born of McGary's oblations to the hymeneal scene.

   • 2005, Catherine Bennett, The Guardian, 23 Jun 2005:

     Is it so difficult to wait until you are out of the register office to exchange some home-made vows and a selection of inspiring hymeneal ditties - To His Coy Mistress, for instance, or some lines from The Hollow Men?

2. Pertaining to sexual relations.
   • 1911, Theodore Dreiser, Jennie Gerhardt, Chapter XI:

     Although the whole earth, not we alone, is moved by passions hymeneal, and everything terrestrial has come into being by the one common road, yet there is that ridiculous tendency to close the eyes and turn away the head as if there were something unclean in nature itself.

3. (anatomy) Of or pertaining to the hymen.
   • 1978, AS Byatt, The Virgin in the Garden, page 422:

     ‘It doesn't seem to qualify as a haemorrhage,’ he said, with his usual cocky certainty. ‘Just heavy hymeneal bleeding, I'd say.’

Translations

pertaining to marriage

• Bulgarian: брачен (bg) (bračen), сватбен (bg) (svatben)
• Finnish: aviollinen (fi)
• French: hyménéen
• Italian: imeneo (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: hymenaeus
• Russian: бра́чный (ru) (bráčnyj), свадебный (ru) (svadebnyj)
• Spanish: himeneo (es)

pertaining to hymen

• Finnish: immenkalvon (fi) (genitive of noun)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: hyménal (fr), hyménéal (fr)

See also

• matrimonial
• nuptial

Noun

hymeneal (plural hymeneals)

1. A hymn, song or poem in honour of a wedding.
   • 1717, Alexander Pope, Eloisa to Abelard:

     For her white virgins hymeneals sing, / To sounds of heav'nly harps she dies away, / And melts in visions of eternal day.

Translations

hymn, song or poem

• Bulgarian: сватбена песен f (svatbena pesen)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: häälaulu (fi), häävirsi (fi), häämarssi, hääruno (fi)