Etymology and origin of the English word obit
The OED separates two nouns spelled obit, the medieval word for death and for the service held after it, and a shortening of obituary recorded from 1874.[1]
Pronunciation
- UK: /ˈɒbɪt/, /ˈəʊbɪt/[2]
obit1 death, memorial service
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 1382 before 1382, Wycliffite Bible
- Borrowed from
- Anglo-Norman obit via Middle English
- Ultimate origin
- Latin obeō
Etymology tree of obit1
From the same root · obit1
Etymology
The word for death and the memorial service is inherited from Middle English obit, also obyte and obite,[3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman obit and Middle French obit,[1][6][7] and directly borrowed from Latin obitus (“a going down, setting, death”).[1][8][9][10] The French word is recorded from about 1165 for "death" and 1238 for the service,[1] and the Anglo-Norman word from about 1165–80 with both senses.[11] The Latin noun comes from obeō (“to go down, perish, die”),[1][9][4] from ob- and eō (“to go”).[1][9][7] In post-classical Latin in British sources it also meant the date or record of a death and a commemorative service, from the 12th century, and a payment due at death, from the 13th.[1] The OED compares Italian obito and Spanish óbito.[1]
Earliest recorded meaning
The death of a person: before 1382, in the early version of the Wycliffite Bible (Genesis),[1][3] which Etymonline places in the late 14th century.[8] The adjective obite, dead, is recorded once, before 1450 in the York Plays: "Þai saide þat I schulde be obitte".[12][1]
Semantic evolution
From "death" the word passed to what follows a death: a service for the soul of the dead person (1394), a record or notice of the death (1459) and, briefly, a payment due at the death (1468).[1] The service could be endowed, so the word also meant the gift or revenue that paid for it, from 1500 to 1649,[1] and it was used for funeral rites from 1525 to 1708.[1] T. Blount's Glossographia of 1656 records another sense of the Latin word, the setting of a celestial object.[1] Johnson (1755) knew only "funeral obsequies", and took the word as a corruption of Latin obiit or obivit.[13] Weekley in 1921 called it obsolete except in the abbreviated post-obit.[14] The scholarly abbreviation ob. with a date is from the same obiit.[8]
Timeline
- before 1382 – death, the decease of a person (obsolete by 1694).[1][3]
- 1394 – a service for the soul of a dead person, usually a mass.[1] Etymonline dates the anniversary service to about 1400.[8]
- before 1450 – adjective obite, deceased (now obsolete).[1][12]
- 1459 – a record or notice of a person's death, or its date.[1][3]
- 1468 – a payment due at a person's death (rare, obsolete).[1]
- 1500 – a gift or endowment for such a service (obsolete by 1649).[1]
- 1525 – funeral rites, obsequies (obsolete by 1708).[1]
- 1656 – the setting of a celestial object (rare, obsolete by 1686).[1]
Meanings
Noun
- (historical) A service, usually a mass, for the soul of a dead person, especially a founder or benefactor of an institution on the anniversary of the death; a memorial service.[7][1][9][15]
- A record or notice of a person's death or of its date.[7][1][9]
- (obsolete, 1382–1694) Death.[1][7][9]
- (obsolete, 1525–1708) Funeral rites; obsequies.[1][7][13]
Word family
- post-obit
obit2 obituary notice
- Confidence
- Disputed
- Formation
- Clipping
- First attested
- 1874 The Athenæum
- Ultimate origin
- Latin obitus
Etymology tree of obit2
From the same root · obit2
Etymology
The word for the newspaper notice is from English a clipping of obituary,[1][8][16] perhaps after obit1.[1] The longer word, recorded from 1706, is from Medieval Latin obituārius (“of death”), from Latin obitus (“death”).[3][8][10] Barnhart and the Shorter Oxford treat the shortened word with the older one, Barnhart noting that the older word has been in use since Middle English and is only popularly regarded as a clipping,[3][9] and Etymonline noting that the older word had the same meaning of published death notice from the 15th to the 17th century.[8]
Earliest recorded meaning
An obituary, especially in a newspaper: 1874, in the Athenæum of 12 September.[1][8]
Semantic evolution
The clipped form has kept its base's meaning and is labelled informal or colloquial in current dictionaries.[15][9]
Timeline
Meanings
Noun
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
- ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
- ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
- ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
- ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
- ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
- ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
Related etymologies
- archbishop · also from Latin
- predecessor · also from Latin
- deliberate · also from Latin
- applause · also from Latin
- endure · also from Latin
- pardon · also from Latin
- notorious · also from Latin
- vagina · also from Latin
Cite this entry
“Obit.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/obit. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.
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