epitaphium

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐπιτάφιος (epitáphios, “over a tomb, at a funeral”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “over”) +‎ τάφος (táphos, “burial, tomb, grave, funeral”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /e.piˈta.pʰi.um/, [ɛpɪˈt̪äpʰiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.piˈta.fi.um/, [epiˈt̪äːfium]

Noun

epitaphium n (genitive epitaphiī or epitaphī); second declension

1. (Late Latin) eulogy; funeral oration

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	epitaphium	epitaphia
Genitive	epitaphiī epitaphī1	epitaphiōrum
Dative	epitaphiō	epitaphiīs
Accusative	epitaphium	epitaphia
Ablative	epitaphiō	epitaphiīs
Vocative	epitaphium	epitaphia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

• > Italian: pitaffio, pataffio (inherited), → epitafio, epitaffio

References

• “epitaphium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• epitaphium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• epitaphium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “epitaphium”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “epitaphium”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin