Esposa and sexual semantics

Question

Am I to understand that an alternate meaning of esposa is "fetters" and --shall I say it?- "handcuffs"? Hmmmmmm.

Answer 1

FURTHER COMMENT

I did search the site for "esposas" and here is some additional info that came up. It was from me originally, so I give myself permission to quote it:

I read once that the etymology of both these words is from the Latin word for "to bind". However, this seems not to be true. The etymology for esposa is the Latin sponsus, a spouse or fiancé.

I also was told once that in medieval times the wedding ceremony involved a binding of the hands of the bride, and that was the origin of the dual sense of the word. However I failed to verify this as well.

Either way, there is something revealing about the patriarchy of the medieval society, and the idea that a woman is but a possession, that one cannot help but notice in this dual sense of the word. Let's hope this world view progresses steadily towards being an echo, and not a reality!

Another world view that seems encapsulated in Spanish is that of esperar - to hope is to wait. Very Catholic, no? That your hope lies not in this world but the next, if you only wait

And the following comment was added:

Besides of course the wedding rings/bands in the fingers are presentation of such bond/cuffs - Amigooo

The final effect is pretty much the same. :) - 00e657d4, Nov 17, 2011

Ummm, surely, only if you have more than one --- las esposas, not just the one (at a time). 8-S - Lector_Constante, Nov 17, 2011

very iformative J. The "why" of a word can be revealing. Thanks. - mikecarroll, Nov 17, 2011

Answer 2

I have also found it interesting when I run into a word with different meanings. However, context will clear up any confusion when using the word. There are other words like this that I found peculiar, but have just learned to ignore the double meanings. An example would be "muñeca."