Etymologically
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burial

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 14:25. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈber.i.əl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English biriel, a mistaken singular of buriels,[2][3][4][5][6] inherited from Old English byrgels (“tomb, burial place”), from byrgan (“to bury”) (see bury) and the suffix -els,[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *burgisli-,[3][2][4] from Proto-Indo-European *bhergh- (“to hide, protect”).[3] The old suffix, also in riddle, became obsolete and was taken for a plural, and the word was later felt as bury with -al.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tomb or grave: about 1200 in Etymonline, about 1250 in the OED.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Trench notes that it once meant the place of burial, as in Wycliffe's “the sepulcre of the man of God”, and only later the act.[8] The act of burying, a funeral, is from the late 13th century in Etymonline, 1453 in the OED.[3][7] Figurative burials are from 1603,[7] and the depositing of anything under earth or water from before 1626.[7] Compounds such as burial ground are from the 19th century.[7][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – a tomb.[3]
  • late 13th century – the act of burying.[3]
  • 1453 – interment.[7]
  • 1603 – figurative burial.[7]
  • 1864 – burial chamber, burial cloth.[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The act of burying, especially the interment of a dead body; a funeral.
  2. (obsolete) A grave or tomb.

Word family

  • reburial
  • burial ground
  • burial mound

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker