Why are funeral workers called undertakers, where does the word come from?
claymore Thurs 15/05/08 07:49
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Originally, the word simply meant anyone who undertakes a task... a contractor... "... .1400, "a contractor or projector of any sort," agent noun from undertake (q.v.). The specialized sense (1698) emerged from funeral-undertaker." (Source: Online Etymology Dictionary)
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There is a joking suggestion that it is because they "take you under"...the ground, that is!
(I should have thought 'mortician' was more in your line, C.)
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Actually, Q, funeral director sounds so much more,,, well, pompous, no? A small town near where I live has a mortuary and is the first business one sees when entering from the south. The finely engraved, very solemn sign advertising it consists of the owner's name... Cease Funeral Home... now that's hilarious!
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I don't know about pompous, Clanad, it sounds very precise. A funeral director does exactly what it says on the tin, he directs funerals. ('Mortician' to me has an air of euphemism, but perhaps not to Americans who are more used to the word.)
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It's the first look in here I've had here for several days, J, and I'm not sure I agree with you. For me, a funeral refers purely to what happens on the day on which the body is finally disposed of. This may involve quite a few activities which the undertaker has to arrange.
Perhaps the body has to be take from his Chapel of Rest or the deceased's home to a church or a crematorium chapel. In either place, words - religious or otherwise - will be spoken, hymns sung or whatever and the coffin thereafter will disappear into the depths of the crem or be taken to a place of burial.
But obviously, the undertaker has a lot to do before we get to that stage - much of it best left unsaid! - and the word 'mortician' fits that bill more closely than 'funeral director' to my mind. That's because the 'mort' element, from its Latin sources, clearly refers to handling the dead body. Surely, it is anything but a euphemism.
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Purely that you undertake the task of closing the eyes, dressing the corpse, and removal of the baody to a proper place. Probably a thousand years old in its use, when bodies were sometimes disposed to medics who probably paid a few pence for the.
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