posthumous

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin posthumus,^[2][3][4][5] with the English suffix -ous.^[2][3] The Late Latin word is an alteration of Latin postumus (“last, last-born, born after the father's death”),^[2][3][5] the superlative corresponding to posterus (“coming after, later”),^[2][3][6] formed from post (“after”).^[2][7][8] The h came from a folk-etymological association with humus (“earth, ground”),^[2][6][4][8] or, as Servius explained it, with humō (“to bury”),^[2][5][3] as if the child were born after the father was put in the ground.^[3][8][5] An adjective posthumus (“born after the death of the father”), in the Latin form, is recorded earlier as an epithet,^[9][2] and the word is sometimes spelled without the h, after the classical Latin form.^[2] Etymonline notes an older word for the same idea, Old English æfterboren (“after-born”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Occurring, arising or continuing after death: 1608, in a sermon by Bishop John King.^[2] The Latin-form posthumus, born after the father's death, appears before 1464 as the epithet of a prince in Capgrave's Chronicle,^[9][3] and as an English adjective from before 1522, in Gavin Douglas's Æneid.^[2] Etymonline dates posthumus to the mid-15th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Latin, postumus meant "last of all" and was often used of a child born after the father's death, his last possible offspring; this gave the word its association with the time after death, which in turn suggested the link with humus and humāre.^[10] In English the general sense "after death" came first (1608), followed by the child born after the father's death (1640) and the book published after its author's death (1668).^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged, however, dates the book sense to 1608 and lists the child first.^[6] A noun posthumous, a posthumous child, was used from before 1648 to 1718.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as done, had or published after one's death.^[11]

Timeline

• before 1464 – Posthumus, in the Latin form, as an epithet of a prince born after his father's death.^[9][3]
• 1608 – occurring or continuing after death.^[2]
• 1640 – of a child, born after the father's death.^[2]
• before 1648 – noun, a posthumous child (obsolete by 1718).^[2]
• 1668 – of a book, published after the author's death.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Happening, awarded or continuing after a person's death: a posthumous medal for bravery.^[12][6][2]
2. Of a book or other work, published after the death of its author.^[12][6][2]
3. Of a child, born after the death of the father.^[12][6][2]

Word family

• posthumously
• posthumousness
• nonposthumous

Related words

• posterior
• posterity
• post-

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c 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)
10. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins