I am delighted to see that this word puzzles regular etymologists as well as me! Here is a webpage dedicated to unravelling this Old English world which we now know as wedlock. http://blog.oup.com/2009/12/wedlock-and-after/
The author, Anatoly Liebermann, thinks that the word developed by analogy with bridelac, which means nuptials... but when did lac turn into lock, and acquire entirely new connotations?
The author, Anatoly Liebermann, thinks that the word developed by analogy with bridelac, which means nuptials... but when did lac turn into lock, and acquire entirely new connotations?