obsequy
English
Etymology
From Latin obsequiī (“complaisant, yielding”), alteration of obsequia (“compliance”) (by confusion, in association with exsequia (“funeral rites”), from exsequī (“follow or accompany to the grave”)).
Pronunciation
- (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈɔbsɪ.kwiː/
Noun
obsequy (plural obsequies)
- The last office for the dead.
- (chiefly in the plural) A funeral rite or service.
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868, folio i, verso, lines 133–135, column 2:
- And to the ladyes he reſtored agayn / The bodyes of her huſbandes yͭ were ſlayn / To done obſequies as tho was the gyſe
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 1919 — Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 13
- But, to-day, there were no obsequies to observe at all.
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Usage notes
In modern usage, the word is used mainly in the plural – obsequies – which should not to be confused with obsequious.
Related terms
▼ <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_terms_derived_from_the_PIE_root_*sek%CA%B7-' title='Category:English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ-'>English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ-</a> (1 c, 0 e)
► <a class='CategoryTreeLabel CategoryTreeLabelNs14 CategoryTreeLabelCategory' href='/wiki/Category:English_terms_derived_from_the_PIE_root_*sek%CA%B7-_(follow)' title='Category:English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ- (follow)'>English terms derived from the PIE root *sekʷ- (follow)</a> (0 c, 107 e)