What is "raptio"

Raptio (in archaic or literary English rendered as rape) is a Latin term referring to the large scale abduction of women, i.e. kidnapping either for marriage or enslavement (particularly sexual slavery). The equivalent term Frauenraub, originally from German, is used in English in the field of art history.

Bride kidnapping is distinguished from raptio in that the former is the abduction of one woman by one man (and his friends and relatives), whereas the latter is the abduction of women by groups of men, possibly in a time of war.