epitaphium

Forms

epitaphium n (genitive epitaphiī or epitaphī); second declension^[1] The Greek form epitaphion is also used, and manuscripts write epitaf-, epyt- and ephit-.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἐπιτάφιον (epitáphion, “funeral oration”),^[3][4][5] the neuter of ἐπιτάφιος (epitáphios, “at a tomb, funeral”), from ἐπί (epí, “on, over”) and τάφος (táphos, “tomb, burial”).^[1][4][5] Cicero has the masculine epitaphius, for the funeral speech.^[2][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, in the Tusculan Disputations, calls Plato's Menexenus an epitaphius, a funeral speech.^[2][6][3] The neuter has been restored by conjecture in Varro's Menippean Satires,^[2] and Jerome speaks of strewing the flowers of “this epitaph” over a tomb.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The TLL defines it as an inscription on a tomb, either really carved or written as such, and also as a poem of lament.^[2] Servius explains that an epicedion is said before the body is buried and an epitaphion after the burial,^[2] and the scholia on Horace equate it with the nenia, the song of mourning.^[2] Ausonius, Ennodius and Venantius Fortunatus used it as a title for funerary poems,^[2] and Isidore of Seville renders it as “upon the tomb”, the inscription of the dead.^[2] Lewis & Short and Stelten also give the sense funeral oration, eulogy.^[3][7]

Medieval writers used it for the inscription on a tomb, as Bede does of Gregory the Great's,^[8][9] for a funeral song,^[8] and more loosely for a memorial writing or life, for a tomb monument, and for an inscription not on a tomb.^[9][10] English epitaph comes from it, partly through Old French.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero has the masculine epitaphius for Plato's Menexenus.^[2][6][4]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius, as a title of funerary poems.^[2][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome.^[2][4]
• c. 400 AD – Servius distinguishes it from the epicedion.^[2][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville.^[2][4]
• mid-14th century – English epitaph.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An epitaph, an inscription on a tomb.^{[2][6][11][9][8][7]}
2. A poem of lament for the dead; a funeral oration, eulogy.^{[2][3][8][7][1]}
3. (Medieval Latin) A tomb monument.^[9][10]
4. (Medieval Latin) A memorial writing, a life; an inscription not on a tomb.^[9][10]

Related words

• English epitaph

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.