morganatic

Meanings

1. Designating a marriage (or the wife involved) between a man of higher rank and a woman of lower rank, often having various legal repercussions (typically that such a wife has no claim on the husband's possessions or title). It was not an aspect of English law, but was common in other royal houses, especially in Germany.

Etymology

From New Latin morganāticus, from the Medieval Latin phrase mātrimōnium ad morganāticum, from Proto-Germanic *murgnagebō (“morning gift”) (whence Old English morgenġiefu).