How Did We Get the Word ‘Husband’?

Far from limiting a man, marriage calls him into a larger mission of love, stewardship, and provision.

A husband is called to the vocation of husbandry—care, commitment, and helping his family grow. Biba Kajevic

Everyone knows what a husband is. Or do they? Defining him simply as “a married man” falls short of the full richness and depth of this term and the reality to which it refers.

How can we better understand the full significance of what it means to be a husband? As is so often the case, English provides us with clues. The word “husband” derives from the Old English “husbonda,” which in turn derives from the Old Norse “husbondi,” meaning “master of the house” or “house-dweller.” It’s a combination of “hus” (“house”) and “bondi,” meaning a “dweller, freeholder, or peasant.”