Grhakanyá. Kan + yat + t́á. The root verb kan means “to dote upon a little child”. Hence the word kanyá means “a dear little girl”.

In [the pre-Mahábhárata] days [earlier than 1500 BCE], women enjoyed much love and respect in the society. People took pride in the glories of their daughters. Their parents would give them attractive clothes, decent food and so on. They thought that, after all, their daughters would not be living with them after a few years; they would go to their husbands’ houses after marriage. In the pre-Mahábhárata age, it was not such a burden [as it later became] to give their daughters in marriage. This is why respect for women did not diminish at all.