Back to all words

Posthumous

3 stages from Latin to English.

Today it means occurring or published after the death of its originator

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

postumus→posthumus→posthumous

Latin · classical

'last', the superlative of posterus 'later', used of a child born after its father's death, as in the Roman name Postumus

Late Latin · late antiquity

"born after burial"

an h crept in because writers misread it as post 'after' + humus 'earth, burial'

English · 1610s

kept the mistaken h, and widened to anything that comes after death, such as a posthumous award

Drag to pan · scroll to zoom

Read the full story

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.