funeral English · revision 5629

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1385|origins=la fūnus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfjuː.nər.əl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun is Middle English funerelles, [[bor|frm|funérailles|t=funeral rites]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la-med|fūnerālia|t=funeral rites]], the neuter plural of [[m|la-lat|fūnerālis|t=having to do with a funeral]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[m|la|fūnus|t=funeral, death, corpse]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(NODE 1998) of uncertain origin,^(Etymonline) perhaps from [[ine-pro|*dʰew-|alt=*dheu-|t=to die, disappear]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The adjective is Old French funeral, from Late Latin fūnerālis.^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The adjective, relating to burial of the dead: about 1385, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) The noun, funeral rites: 1437, in the Proceedings of the Privy Council, as the plural funerelles.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The singular and plural were used with the same sense until about 1700, and by the mid-17th century the spelling funeral was fixed.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline dates the singular noun to the 1510s, probably short for ''funeral service''.^(Etymonline) In Elizabethan English it was also a verb, “to mourn”.^(Etymonline) The expenses of a funeral are from 1496 and obsolete.^(OED 1989) A funeral sermon is from 1641, now only in the United States.^(OED 1989) ''None of your funeral'', no concern of yours, is from 1854, and ''it's your funeral'' is still informal.^(OED 1989)^(Collins 2023) ''Funereal'' is from 1725, in Pope's Odyssey.^(Barnhart 1988) The classical Latin adjective was funebris.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1385 – the adjective.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1437 – funerelles, funeral rites.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1510s – the singular noun.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1725 – ''funereal''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1854 – ''none of your funeral''.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A ceremony at which a dead person is [[burial|alt=buried]] or [[cremation|alt=cremated]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A procession that goes with a body to the grave.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' Someone's own problem or concern: ''that's your funeral''.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of or used at a funeral: ''a funeral march''.^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[funeralize]]

+ * [[prefuneral]]

+ * [[funeral director]]

+ * [[funeral home]]

+ * [[funeral pie]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[funerary]]

+ * [[funereal]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}