dīvortium

Latin dīvortium comes from dīvertere: dī- (apart) + vertere (to turn). A dīvortium was a separation, a fork in a road, a point where a river divides. The word was used for marital dissolution but also for any parting of ways. The same root produced 'divert,' 'diversion,' and 'diverse.' A divorce is a diversion — a turning aside from a shared path. The word entered English from Old French divorce in the fourteenth century.

Roman divorce was straightforward. Either party could dissolve a marriage by declaration. No grounds were required. No judicial process was needed. Cicero divorced Terentia after thirty years of marriage; she remarried twice afterward. The ease of Roman divorce was exceptional. When Christianity gained political power, divorce became progressively harder. The Catholic Church declared marriage indissoluble by the twelfth century, though annulments (declarations that the marriage never validly existed) were available — at a price.

Henry VIII's desire for a divorce that the Pope would not grant led to the creation of the Church of England in 1534. The word 'divorce' became a geopolitical event. The English Reformation, the dissolution of the monasteries, and the restructuring of English religion all trace to a single marriage dispute. The word that meant 'to turn apart' turned an entire country apart from Rome.

No-fault divorce, introduced in California in 1970 under Governor Ronald Reagan, removed the requirement to prove wrongdoing. The word shifted from an accusation to a bureaucratic process. Before no-fault, someone had to be guilty — adultery, cruelty, abandonment. After no-fault, both parties could simply agree to turn apart. The word became less dramatic and more administrative. The turning is now paperwork.