Wow. I had that backwards? The girl's family has to pay the groom????
ETA_ : yup, just looked it up. All my life I was under the impression that the woman was given a dowry, because she was going to bring children to the husband's family. I had no clue she had to bribe the groom's family. lol
I too am surprised! There is a story, in our family, of a man who paid a "dowry" of livestock, for his beloved, and this was within my parent's generation. I think that it was more symbolic than anything and has been a story of humor throughout the years. However, I've always heard it called a dowry where I live (Appalachian Region). After doing some digging, I can see where the meanings have been misinterpreted based on a mix of word similarities, culture, and religion. Kind of OT but interesting.
So, I did a bit of looking for my own curiosity. It is very easy to see how the term has been confused over the past couple-three thousand years or so.
People refer to the OT and dowries but the OT never mentions dowries, instead the passages read "bride price".
In the Old Testament, the first mention of a Bride Price is in Genesis 34:12, where Jacob worked seven years for Rachel because he had nothing else to offer (but ended up with Leah, and then had to work seven more for Rachel...bummer.). Men paying a price for their beloved can also be found in Genesis 34:12, Exodus 22:17, and 1 Samuel 18:25 . In all instances, in the Bible, the wording is, "Bride Price".
Fast forward to the U.S. in the 1700s
In colonial times, in the U.S.,
Dowery, or
dowry, is the term for that portion, usually from her father, that a bride brings to her husband that he can use as long as the marriage lasts. It was sometime used to start setting up her new home, or her
dower.
Also in Colonial times;
The term dower, on the other hand, is a shortened version of dower right: it refers to the portion of a deceased husband’s estate to which a widow is entitled to by law for her lifetime. A financially savvy woman, if her husband wrote a will but was in debt at the time of his death, would elect to receive her dower right portion, as it was taken right off the top and not available to the creditors.
https://vita-brevis.org/2015/03/dowry-versus-dower-right/
And, then we have Mahr
Law of Dower (Mahr) in India:
Under the Muslim Law, Mehr (dower) means money or property which the wife is entitled to receive from the husband in consideration of the marriage but this consideration is not the same as that of the civil contract. Dower is an obligation imposed upon the husband as a mark of respect for the wife.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1528817X.2010.528594
