Etymologically
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sepulcrum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɛˈpʊɫ.krũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈpul.krum][1]

Forms

sepulcrum n (genitive sepulcrī); second declension[1] The spelling sepulchrum, with ch as for Greek χ, is common in inscriptions and elsewhere from the 2nd century BC.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from sepeliō (“to bury”) with the instrument suffix -crum, like fulcrum from fulciō.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *sepel-je/o- (“to bury”) and Proto-Indo-European *sepel-ye/o- (“to honour”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἕπω (hépō, “to take care of”); ⟨sepul-⟩ in the noun is analogical.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.[4] In Terence's Andria it is the pyre: ad sepulcrum venimus; in ignem impositast, “we came to the pyre; she was laid on the fire”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a burial place, grave or tomb, and also the funeral pyre, as in Terence and Lucan.[2] By metonymy the plural is the dead, as Catullus' mūtīs sepulcrīs, the silent dead.[2] English sepulchre (c. 1200), from it through Old French, was used especially of the tomb of Christ, the Holy Sepulchre.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of a funeral pyre.[2][6]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of the dead.[2][6]
  • c. 1200 – English sepulchre.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A grave, tomb, burial place, sepulchre.[2][1]
  2. A funeral pyre.[2]
  3. (plural, by metonymy) The dead.[2]

Word family

  • sepulcrālis
  • sepulcrētum

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