epitaph

See also: Epitaph

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛp.ɪˌtɑːf/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛp.ɪˌtæf/
- Audio (US): (file)

Noun

epitaph (plural epitaphs)

An inscription on a gravestone in memory of the deceased.
- 1909, Eric Parker, chapter XXIII, in Highways and Byways in Surrey‎^[1]:
  The church itself, or at all events the squat and tiny tower, has not altered much since Lamb saw it. But the epitaphs have gone. Search among the ivies and yews of the shady little churchyard will discover a number of flat, weatherworn slabs of stone, but the verses and the signatures have vanished.
A poem or other short text written in memory of a deceased person.
- 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Honest Objects of Love”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
  Nam vinci in amore turpissimum putant, not only living, but when their friends are dead, with tombs and monuments, nenias, epitaphs, elegies, inscriptions, pyramids, obelisks, statues, images, pictures, histories, poems, annals, feasts, anniversaries, many ages after (as Plato's scholars did) they will parentare still, omit no good office that may tend to the preservation of their names, honours, and eternal memory.

Translations

inscription on a gravestone

Afrikaans: epitaaf
Armenian: տապանագիր (hy) (tapanagir), շիրմագիր (hy) (širmagir), գերեզմանագիր (hy) (gerezmanagir), դամբանագիր (hy) (dambanagir)
Azerbaijani: epitafiya
Belarusian: эпітафія f (epitafija), надмагільны надпіс m (nadmahilʹny nadpis), магільны надпіс m (mahilʹny nadpis)
Bulgarian: надгробен надпис m (nadgroben nadpis)
Catalan: epitafi m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 墓誌銘／墓志铭 (zh) (mùzhìmíng), 碑文 (zh) (bēiwén)
Czech: epitaf m, náhrobní (cs) nápis (cs) m
Dutch: grafschrift (nl) n
Esperanto: tomboskribo
Estonian: hauakiri
Finnish: hautakirjoitus (fi), epitafi
French: épitaphe (fr) f
Georgian: ეპიტაფია (eṗiṭapia)
German: Grabinschrift (de) f; (rare, elevated) Epitaph (de) n
Hungarian: sírfelirat (hu)
Icelandic: grafskrift (is) f
Ido: epitafo (io)
Indonesian: epitaf (id)
Interlingua: epitaphio
Irish: feartlaoi f
Italian: epitaffio (it) m
Japanese: エピタフ (epitafu), 墓碑銘 (ja) (ぼひめい, bohimei)
Kazakh: құлпытастағы жазу (qūlpytastağy jazu), эпитафия (épitafiä)
Korean: 묘지명(墓誌銘) (ko) (myojimyeong), 묘비명(墓碑銘) (ko) (myobimyeong), 에피타프 (epitapeu)
Latin: titulus m, epitaphium n
Malay: epitaf
Persian: مزارنوشته (mazârnevešte), گورنوشته
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 (sv) n
Ukrainian: епіта́фія f (epitáfija), намоги́льний на́пис m (namohýlʹnyj nápys)
Uzbek: epitafiya
Vietnamese: văn bia

commemorative poem or other text

Belarusian: эпітафія f (epitafija)
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
Irish: feartlaoi f
Italian: epitaffio (it) m, discorso funebre m
Polish: epitafium (pl) n
Russian: эпита́фия (ru) f (epitáfija)

Verb

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

(intransitive) To write or speak after the manner of an epitaph.
- 1606, Joseph Hall, Heaven upon Earth:
  The Commons in their speeches epitaph upon him […] "He lived as a wolf and died as a dog."
(transitive) To commemorate by an epitaph.
- 1592, Gabriel Harvey, Foure Letters and certaine Sonnets:
  Let me rather be epitaphed the inventor of the English Hexameter.