crematio

Forms

cremātiō f (genitive cremātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cremō (“to burn”) + -tiō.^[2][1] De Vaan takes cremō to be probably a denominative verb, but finds no certain further connection.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Pliny the Elder, meaning a burning.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan and rare, meaning a burning or consuming by fire;^[4] Prudentius also uses it.^[4] Ecclesiastical Latin has the sense cremation,^[5] and English took the word from Latin in the 1620s for the burning of the dead.^[6]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of burning.^[2][4][7]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it in the Peristephanon.^[4][7]
• 1620s – Borrowed into English as cremation.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A burning, consuming by fire.^[2][4]
2. Cremation.^[5][1]

Related words

• cremō
• English cremation

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de