- skip - Brewer’s

Funeral

means a torchlight procession (from the Latin, funis, a torch), because funerals among the Romans took place at night by torchlight, that magistrates and priests might not be violated by seeing a corpse, and so be prevented from performing their sacred duties.

“Funus [a funeral], from funes or funalia [torches] … . . originally made of ropes.”—Adams: Roman Antiquities (Funerals).

 

previous entry · index · next entry

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

previous entry · index · next entry

Full Fig (In)
Full Swing (In)
Fulsome
Fum
Fum the Fourth
Fumage
Fume
Fun
Fund
Funds
Funeral
Funeral Banquet
Funeral Games
Fungoso
Funk
Funny Bone
Furbelow
Furca
Furcam et Flagellum (gallows and whip)
Furies (The Three)
Furies of the Guillotine (The)