For years, couples have dedicated¹ a single "ring" finger to romance when any other digit² would do. A case of left side, strong side? Not according to history.

 

多年来，夫妇们都是把象征爱情的戒指戴在左手的无名指上，虽然，其他任何手指也可以履行这一职责。难道左手是更好的那只手吗？历史上可不是这样说的。

 

In medieval times, getting caught scribbling³ with one's left hand could earn accusations⁴ of being possessed⁵ and, during the Spanish Inquisition, lefties were more likely to be tortured or killed. In fact, the aversion touched many cultures, from the long-standing taboo⁶ in Islamic countries against eating and drinking with one's left hand, to the expectation in ancient Japan that any wife who didn't favor her right could be legally divorced on the spot, no questions asked. So why do we favor a finger on a cursed hand to symbolize⁷ lasting⁸ love?

 

Past perception wasn't all bad. The union between marriage and the now-standard ring placement can be traced back to second-century Egyptians who falsely believed that "a certain most delicate nerve" began in the fourth left finger and stretched directly to the heart, according to the Greek scholar Appian. Centuries later, the Romans came to a similar conclusion. In place of a nerve, they were convinced that a vena amoris--or "lover's vein⁹"--connected this digit with the blood-pumping organ.

 

During the Roman engagement process, a well-off suitor who could afford a ring would slip it over his bride-to-be's fourth finger. Thus, he'd always have a symbolic¹⁰ grip around her lover's vein. The modern world may have adopted that practice from the Romans.

 

Still, others argue that reverence¹¹ for the fourth finger began as an early Christian¹² ritual. While crossing themselves in an Orthodox Church, worshipers are expected to join the thumb with the index and middle fingers. Historians contend that the group represented the father, son, and Holy Ghost when placed together, while the "ring" finger signified earthly love, making it the perfect location for a spouse's wedding ring.

 

Until the seventeenth century, Orthodox couples normally wore their rings on the right hand (an extremity¹³ that's associated with strength) and most Europeans of all faiths followed suit. But during the Reformation in 1549, an English Bishop¹⁴ and Protestant reformer named Thomas Cranmer used wedding rings as a way to break from tradition. That year, he published The Book of Common Prayer, which instructs couples to ditch a centuries-old practice in favor of slipping their wedding rings over the left fourth finger. Before long, husbands and wives throughout the continent were doing so.

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