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Toponyms

This week’s words
Delphian
laconism
Smithfield match


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PRONUNCIATION:

(SMITH-feeld match)

MEANING:

noun: A marriage of convenience, especially one arranged for money.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Smithfield, London, long associated with markets and fairs, including Bartholomew Fair (1133-1855). Earliest documented use: 1703.

NOTES:

Smithfield, London, has long been known for its livestock and meat markets, which seems right on the nose for a place that gave us a term for a marriage of convenience. But that’s not how this sense of the word started: Smithfield was also famous for fairs and bargains, especially Bartholomew Fair, held there for hundreds of years.

A Smithfield match was a match made not in heaven, but in the accounts ledger. The bride, groom, and cattle may all have been inspected with the same commercial squint. A near synonym is Smithfield bargain.

USAGE:

“In such marriages, the prime negotiator was called a cattle-dealer ... Bianca’s marriage also is a Smithfield match.”
Barbara C. Hodgdon; Ghostly Fragments; University of Michigan Press; 2021.

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