epitaph

See also: Epitaph

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French epitafe, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin epitaphium (“eulogy”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek ἐπιτάφιος (epitáphios, “relating to a funeral”), from ἐπί (epí, “over”) + τάφος (táphos, “tomb”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɛpɪtɑːf]
• IPA^(key): [ˈɛpɪtæf]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

epitaph (plural epitaphs)

1. An inscription on a gravestone in memory of the deceased.
2. A poem or other short text written in memory of a deceased person.

Translations

inscription on a gravestone

• Bulgarian: надгробен надпис m (nadgroben nadpis)
• Catalan: epitafi m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 墓誌銘／墓志铭 (zh) (mùzhìmíng), 墓志铭 (zh) (mùzhìmíng), 碑文 (zh) (bēiwén)

• Czech: epitaf m, náhrobní (cs) nápis (cs) m
• Dutch: grafschrift (nl)
• Esperanto: tomboskribo
• Estonian: hauakiri
• Finnish: hautakirjoitus (fi), epitafi
• French: épitaphe (fr) f
• German: Grabinschrift (de) f; (rare, elevated) Epitaph (de) n
• Hungarian: sírfelirat (hu)
• Icelandic: grafskrift (is) f
• Ido: epitafo (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingua: epitaphio
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} feartlaoi f
• Italian: epitaffio (it) m
• Japanese: エピタフ (epitafu)
• Latin: titulus m
• Malay: epitaf
• Persian: مزارنوشته (mazârnevešte)
• Polish: epitafium (pl) n
• Portuguese: epitáfio (pt) m
• Russian: эпита́фия (ru) f (epitáfija), надгро́бная на́дпись f (nadgróbnaja nádpisʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: leac-sgrìobhadh m
• Spanish: epitafio (es) m
• Swedish: epitafium (sv) n, epitaf n

commemorative poem or other text

• Finnish: muistokirjoitus (fi), muistoruno, epitafi
• German: (in prose) Nachruf (de), Gedenkschrift f; (in verse) Elegie (de) f, Gedenkgedicht n, Trauergedicht n
• Icelandic: eftirmæli (is) n, (an obituary) minningargrein (is) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: feartlaoi f
• Italian: epitaffio (it) m, discorso funebre m
• Russian: эпита́фия (ru) f (epitáfija)

Verb

epitaph (third-person singular simple present epitaphs, present participle epitaphing, simple past and past participle epitaphed)

1. (intransitive) To write or speak after the manner of an epitaph.
   • Bishop Hall

     The common in their speeches epitaph upon him […] "He lived as a wolf and died as a dog."

2. (transitive) To commemorate by an epitaph.
   • G. Harvey

     Let me be epitaphed the inventor of English hexameters.

See also

• eulogy – oration about the dead, often at funeral
• obituary – published writing on the dead
• epigraph – quote on a tombstone
• hic jacet