handfast

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English hondfast, past participle of Middle English hondfesten (“to betroth”), from Old Norse handfesta (“to strike a bargain, pledge”), itself from hönd (“hand”) + festa (“to fasten, fix, affirm”), perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *pHst-.

Noun

handfast (plural handfasts)

(obsolete) A hold, grasp; custody, power of confining or keeping.
- 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene v]:
  And the remembrancer of her to hold
  The hand-fast to her lord. I have given him that
(obsolete) A contract, agreement, covenant; specifically betrothal, espousal.

Translations

contract

Danish: håndfæstning (XIII-XVII centuries: contract between King and Nobility)
Dutch: handvest (nl) n
French: poignée de main (fr)
German: Handfest n
Spanish: atado de las manos m

Verb

handfast (third-person singular simple present handfasts, present participle handfasting, simple past and past participle handfasted)

(transitive) To pledge; to bind.
(transitive, Scotland, archaic or historical except Wicca) To betroth by joining hands, in order to allow for cohabitation before the celebration of marriage; to marry provisionally.
- 1820 March, [Walter Scott], chapter XI, in The Monastery. A Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Co., and John Ballantyne, […], OCLC 892089409, pages 311–312:
  No, Sir Priest or Sir Preacher, Catherine is not my wife— […] she is not my wife, but she is handfasted with me, and that makes her as honest a woman. [...] When we are handfasted, as we term it, we are man and wife for a year and a day—that space gone by, each may chuse another mate, or, at their pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life—and this we call handfasting.
- 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
  Would the lass but consent to go abroad in the unhallowed place at this awful season and hour of the night, she was as firmly handfasted to the Devil as if she had signed a bond with her own blood; […]

Adjective

handfast

(obsolete) Fast by contract; betrothed by joining hands.
- 1546, John Bale, The Actes of Englysh Votaries

Etymology 2

Calque of German handfest, itself from Hand (“hand”) + fest (“firm, strong”).

Adjective

handfast (comparative more handfast, superlative most handfast)

(rare) Strong; steadfast.

Translations

strong; steadfast

Norwegian: håndfast