What does “trauen” mean in German?

At this Zurich wedding, the officiant traut the couple — trauen is the verb for performing a marriage, and die Trauung is the ceremony. The same verb means to trust (jemandem trauen) and, reflexively, to dare (sich trauen). That’s no coincidence: all three grow from the root of treu, faithful — to marry someone was originally to entrust.

German has tied this bundle together since the Middle Ages: by the 13th century trauen meant “to join in marriage,” from the older sense “to entrust.” Traust du dich? — “do you dare?” — even works as wedding wordplay. The clip ends on the formula every learner can decode: “Du darfst deine Braut küssen” — you may kiss your bride.