Latin Terms - Copulatio & Matrimonium

When doing genealogical research, you may - once in a while - stumble upon some words of Latin. For centuries, the church provided for baptisms and burials, and Latin has been the standard for the Roman Catholic liturgy since the 6th century. In the "Latin Term" Series I try to explain some Latin Terms that can be found in genealogical documents.

The Latin word “proclamation” denotes the “announcement of a proposed marriage”. A related Latin term is “matrimonium contrahunt” which means “getting married”. The related word “matrimonio” is Italian for “marriage”. 

The Latin term “copulatio” is used to denote a “marriage ceremony”. The corresponding verb is “copulare”, which means “to join together”. The term was used in catholic churches when a man and a women were married. Nowadays in English the meaning of the verb “to copulate” is somewhat different, but that word originates from the same Latin term.

After the marriage ceremony the couple are “coniuges”, i.e. “spouses”, and one spouse is a “coniunx”.

Latin	English
coniuges	spouses
copulare	to join together
copulatio	marriage ceremony
copulationis	of marriage
copulati sunt	they were married, joined
copulatus	married, joined
copulavit	he married (performed a wedding)
matrimonium	marriage
matrimonium contrahunt	getting married
per subsequens matrimonium legitimatus	legitimized by subsequent marriage
proclamation	announcement (of a proposed marriage)

See also: bhic.nl, FamilySearch.org/wiki.