From the OED:

Dot, noun

A woman's marriage portion; the property which she brings with her, and of
which the interest or annual income alone is under her husband's control.
See also dote n.2, which is the historical English form.
1855   Thackeray *Newcomes* II. xxxi. 303   Mademoiselle has so many francs
of *dot*.
1870   H. Smart *Race for Wife* ii. 30   There would, perhaps, be some
little difficulty about the *dot*.
1882   C. E. L. Riddell *Prince of Wales's Garden-party* 37   She had a
*dot* of three thousand pounds, which..brought in under a hundred a year.


Amanda Gagel, PhD
Associate Editor
Mark Twain Project
http://www.marktwainproject.org
<http://www.marktwainproject.org/homepage.html>
Bancroft Library
UC-Berkeley
510.664.9969

On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 11:25 AM, Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]
> wrote:

> Louisiana English 'dot' not unexpectedly < French 'dot' = Spanish 'dote'
>
> On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 2:16 PM, Taylor Roberts <
> [log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Dot = Dowry in Louisana English according to
> http://wikidiff.com/dowry/dot
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 18, 2017 at 2:08 PM, Dave Davis <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > What does the word 'dot' -- in quotes in the original -- refer to?
> > >
> > > DDD
> > >
> > > https://archive.org/details/jstor-25119224 ; or
> > > http://www.online-literature.com/twain/3263/
> > >
> > > "Rich American girls do buy titles, but they did not invent that idea;
> it
> > > had been worn threadbare several hundred centuries before America was
> > > discovered. European girls still exploit it as briskly as ever; and,
> > when a
> > > title is not to be had for the money in hand, they buy the husband
> > without
> > > it. They must put up the "dot," or there is no trade. The
> > commercialization
> > > of brides is substantially universal, except in America. It exists with
> > us,
> > > to some little extent, but in no degree approaching a custom."
> > >
> >
>