posthumous
adjective
Did you know?
The etymology of the word posthumous tells a complex story. In Latin, posterus is an adjective meaning "coming after" (from post, meaning "after"). The comparative form of posterus is posterior, and its superlative form is postumus, which means, among other things, "last." Postumus had specific application in referring to the last of a man's children, which in some cases meant those born after he had died. Latin speakers incorrectly identified the -umus in this word with humus, meaning "dirt" or "earth" (suggesting the ground in which the unfortunate father now lay). The Latin spelling became posthumus, as if the word were formed from post and humus, and both the "h" and the suggestion of "after burial" or "after death" carried over into English.
Did you know?
Where does posthumous come from?
Readers who are looking for the origins of the word posthumous may be interested to know that it is an example of a folk etymology. A folk etymology involves the respelling or changing of an unfamiliar word (often one borrowed from another language) to make it resemble an unrelated but better-known word or words. The classic example in English is cockroach, which was formed by substituting the English words cock (the name of a bird) and roach (the name of a fish) for the similar-sounding but totally unrelated Spanish word for a bug, cucaracha.
Posthumous comes from the Latin posthumus, which is itself an alteration of postumus ("born after the father's death"). It is thought that the word humus (meaning "dirt, earth" in Latin) was substituted for -umus in the mistaken belief that the word's final element had something to do with the soil in a grave.
Examples of posthumous in a Sentence
Joe Lynch, Billboard, 4 Apr. 2024
His final two projects included posthumous roles in the 2022 Disney+ series Moon Knight and the French movie More Than Ever.
—Tommy McArdle, Peoplemag, 1 Apr. 2024
Newsom also granted a posthumous pardon to William Burwell, who helped organize protests as a student at San Fernando Valley State College, now Cal State Northridge, during the Civil Rights Movement.
—Hannah Wiley, Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar. 2024
Its publication this month may stir questions about posthumous releases.
—Jessica Bennett, New York Times, 24 Mar. 2024
The set became Keith’s fifth leader on the chart and his first posthumous champion.
—Hugh McIntyre, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024
The shameless and posthumous branding of artists such as Keith and Jean-Michel Basquiat might be better attributed to entities like the licensing agency Artestar, employed by both the Haring Foundation and the Basquiat estate.
—The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
McCartney was one of the guests on Buffett’s posthumous album Equal Strain on All Parts, which was released last November.
—Spin Staff, SPIN, 11 Mar. 2024
Just as Tyson’s costar Paul Winfield had been nominated for Best Actor, Davis’ Ma Rainey costar Boseman earned a posthumous Best Actor nomination.
—Lester Fabian Brathwaite, EW.com, 15 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'posthumous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Posthumous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posthumous. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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posthumous
adjective
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