Where does “posthumous” come from?
Posthumous comes from Latin posthumus, a variant of postumus meaning "last" or "after," derived from posterus meaning "coming after," which traces back through Latin post and postis to Proto-Indo-European pósti and pós meaning "after" or "behind."
posthumous (English): Born after the death of one's father; After the...
Definitions
- Born after the death of one's father; After the...
Ancestry of “posthumous”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | posthumus | — |
| 2 | Latin | postumus | last, especially of children born following death... |
| 3 | Latin | posterus | following, next, coming after; inferior |
| 4 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 5 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |