In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
chirograph (plural chirographs)
(legal, historical) A kind of mediaeval document written in duplicate (or more) on a single piece of parchment, then cut across a single word, so that each holder of a portion can prove it matches the others.
(legal, Catholicism) A papal decree whose circulation, unlike an encyclical, is limited to the Roman curia.
(obsolete) The last part of a fine of land; the "foot of the fine".
Source: Wiktionary
Chi"ro*graph, n. Etym: [Gr. (Old. Law) (a) A writing which, reguiring a counterpart, was engrossed twice on the same piece of parchment, with a space between, in which was written the word chirographum, through which the parchment was cut, and one part given to each party. It answered to what is now called a charter party. (b) The last part of a fine of land, commonly called the foot of the fine. Bouvier.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
2 April 2025
(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.