posthumous

Where does the word "posthumous" come from? It comes from Latin postumus, passing through Late Latin before entering English (1610s).

Posthumous’s story begins in Latin: postumus meant “last-born.” 'last', the superlative of posterus 'later', used of a child born after its father's death, as in the Roman name Postumus. By late antiquity, the word had taken hold in Late Latin as posthumus. An h crept in because writers misread it as post 'after' + humus 'earth, burial'. It reached English by 1610s as posthumous. Kept the mistaken h, and widened to anything that comes after death, such as a posthumous award. Today, posthumous means occurring or published after the death of its originator.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · classical postumus "last-born", 'last', the superlative of posterus 'later', used of a child born after its father's death, as in the Roman name Postumus.
2. Stage 2 · Late Latin · late antiquity posthumus "born after burial", an h crept in because writers misread it as post 'after' + humus 'earth, burial'.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1610s posthumous "after death", kept the mistaken h, and widened to anything that comes after death, such as a posthumous award.