I read an article the other day and it referred to someone’s ring finger. It occurred to me that I immediately knew that they were referring to the finger next to the “little” finger — on the left hand. Well, that got me to thinking about how I knew that. The reason I knew it was because I’ve always heard that finger referred to as the “ring finger.” But why is that?
Thank goodness for my extensive research…. turns out that the selection of that finger as the ring finger is not definitely known. But — there are a few theories, the more popular one being…. that before medical science discovered how the circulatory system functioned, people believed that a vein ran directly from the fourth finger on the left hand to the heart. In fact, the descriptive Latin name vena amoris was chosen for this vein — the vein of love. With the heart at the center of your emotions, this was thought to be the best finger to wear your wedding/engagement ring on — it showed to all the world a symbol of your forever love and that your heart had been claimed by another.
Science has since proven that every single finger has veins running to the heart, but even though the science may not support it, the romantic notion remains.
Wearing your wedding ring on the left hand isn’t a global practice. In Russia, Norway, Germany and India, the ring is worn on the right hand. This might be because of some evil association with the word “left” — “sinister” comes from a Latin word that means “on the left side.” Also, I seem to remember that in India, the left hand is considered unclean.
On a related subject, wedding rings used to be worn almost entirely by women — from what I can tell, the practice of men wearing rings began to pick up during the 1st and 2nd World Wars, when married soldiers started to wear rings to remind them of their partner.
It’s kind of interesting how this, like most/all traditions evolve…. there’s usually some kind of logic, or at least a reason behind it.
— 30 —