"Hus" plus "Bond"

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Pippin Foxmoth wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/179631>: 

<< You know the etymological derivation of "husband" don't you? It's
supposed to come from Old Norse -- "master of the house."
<http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=husband> >>

Which says << from hus "house" + bondi "householder, dweller,
freeholder, peasant," from buandi, prp. of bua "to dwell" The sense of
"peasant farmer" (c.1220) is preserved in 'husbandry' (first attested
c.1380 in this sense). Beginning c.1290, replaced O.E. wer as "married
man," companion of wif, a sad loss for Eng. poetry. >>

Even if it means the 'owner' of the house (as 'freeholder) that still
doesn't mean 'master' of the people in it. If it means 'dweller' in
the house, even less so. House-man. Her husband = the man who dwells
in the house with her = the man she lives with. 

As for 'wer', doesn't that just mean 'man', as in 'werewolf'?

<http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=wife> says <<O.E. wif
"woman," from P.Gmc. *wiban (cf. O.S., O.Fris. wif, O.N. vif, Dan.,
Swed. viv, M.Du., Du. wijf, O.H.G. wib, Ger. Weib), of unknown origin.
The modern sense of "female spouse" began as a specialized sense in
O.E.; the general sense of "woman" is preserved in midwife, old wives'
tale, etc. M.E. sense of "mistress of a household" survives in
housewife; and later restricted sense of "tradeswoman of humble rank"
in fishwife. Du. wijf now means, in slang, "girl, babe," having
softened somewhat from earlier sense of "bitch.">>

"I now pronounce you man and woman" sounds so much more redundant (to
modern, or at least my, ears) than "I now pronounce you husband and
wife". They were already a man and a woman before they even got engaged.