Tie the knot? Is this where the saying came from?
61Was it in China?
Many of us are familiar with the saying "tie the knot" in reference to a couple getting married. "When are you going to tie the knot?" one might as the prospective bride or groom, meaning "When are you planning to get married?" I've wondered where the saying came from, and even a search on the Internet did not give me the answer I was looking for. However, I think I may have the answer. Recently when touring Wuzhen, a famous ancient water village in Zhejiang province, southern China, we visited several of the amazing museums here.
One featured many of the clothes worn by the Chinese people through history, and featured much of the home and family life of these people.
There, I was amazed to find a couple, dressed in their finery, holding some fabric which was obviously tied in a knot. Was this a wedding ceremony with the bride and groom "tying the knot"? I'm pretty sure it was, but I was unable to find out much from our Chinese tour guide, who was rather disappointed that her tourists on this day spoke only one or two words in Chinese, and she had much the same vocabulary in Chinese. So I am none the wiser. What do you think?
A couple tying the knot.
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Some historians say that the saying "tying the knot" referred to the tying of the knots of the marriage bed. At that time there was no box spring, the bed sat on a rope mesh, much like a net. Creating a marriage bed was a step in preparing for a wedding. The bride and groom together created the bed by tying the knots.
There are different versions of the origins of "tying the knot" - I like this one. :)
Eileen Hughes Level 3 Commenter 3 years ago
Interesting notion, but sorry no idea at all about that. thanks anyway