Note 878 — Chapter VI · OLD ENGLISH WIFE-PURCHASE YIELDS TO FREE MARRIAGE

The meaning of "foster-laen" is uncertain. Schmid wrongly identifies it with the gyft of Ine, 31, and thinks it is the purchase price of the bride, that is, the weotuma: Gesetze, 34, 35, note. Thorpe regards it also as the purchase price paid to the family of the bride: Anc. Laws, I, 254, note. Schroeder, Güterrecht, I, 51 n. 13, believes it to be a provision for maintenance of the children. But Sohm renders it Weinkauf, "drink-money," and this is probably right. It is a form or application of the arrha, which is not now paid down, but, the contract being formal, is promised to the guardian. The arrha had customarily been spent in treating the guests: Eheschliessung, 30, 31, 317, note.