cremation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cremātiō (“a burning”), accusative cremātiōnem,^[2][3][4][5] a noun of action from cremō (“to burn, consume by fire”),^[2][3][6] which was also used of burning the dead.^[3] Etymonline derives the verb from Proto-Indo-European *krem-, an extension of Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“heat, fire”),^[3] and the American Heritage Dictionary places it under the same root.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of burning: 1623, in Henry Cockeram's English Dictionarie;^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1620s, as the act or custom of burning the dead.^[3] Johnson (1755) gave only "a burning".^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word's general sense, a burning, narrowed to the burning of a corpse to ashes instead of burial.^[2][9] In 1883 Mark Twain, in Life on the Mississippi, joked that the adoption of cremation would bring back "a lot of mildewed old cremation-jokes".^[3] The verb cremate was formed from the noun by back-formation in 1851,^[3] the word cremationist, an advocate of cremation, dates from the late 19th century,^[9] and crematorium was formed in Latin after auditorium.^[6] Merriam-Webster also records the burning of cancelled documents, such as expired bonds.^[10]

Timeline

• 1623 – burning; the burning of a corpse.^[2][3]
• 1851 – the verb cremate, back-formed from the noun.^[3]
• late 19th century – cremationist, an advocate of cremation.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The burning of a dead body to ashes, as a funeral practice, or an instance of this.^[10][2][9]
2. The destruction of records or documents, such as cancelled bonds, by burning.^[10]

Word family

• cremationist

Related words

• cremate
• crematorium
• crematory

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
9. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster