The term out of wedlock refers to an individual born to unmarried parents. But what exactly is wedlock? Often misunderstood as a reference to pregnancy outside of marriage, wedlock simply means “marriage”. In Middle English, it was spelled wedlok or wedlocke, with its origins in Old English wedlac, maintaining the same definition. Contrary to popular belief, it has no connection to locks, despite common misconceptions. The term is a combination of the word wed and the suffix -lac, a noun indicating actions, stemming from the Proto-Indo-European reconstruction leyg, meaning “bounce”. The word wed, derived from Proto-Germanic wadja, can be traced back to a Proto-Indo-European term for “bind”, sharing a similar pronunciation.
