FUNEREAL

[Dr. Goodword]

• funereal •

Pronunciation: fyu-ni-ri-êl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Related in any way to a funeral. 2. Like a funeral: mournful, sorrowful, woebegone.

Notes: Today's woeful word is the adjective of funeral. (We hope it doesn't spoil your cheery mood.) It does support an adverb, funereally, though nothing else. It looks much like its noun, so be careful of the spelling since it is pronounced pronouncedly different from the noun.

In Play: Because English allows nouns to be used as adjectives before other nouns, we tend to use funeral, the noun, in attributive position, where today's word would be expected: "The funereal (funeral) proceedings were interrupted by a knock coming from inside the coffin." However, the second sense above can only be expressed by this Good Word itself: "The boisterous laughter gave way to a funereal silence when the stranger announced that he was the new minister at the Methodist Church."

Word History: This oft neglected word comes from Latin funereus, the adjective of funus (funer-) "funeral". The original root was PIE *dhou-/*dheu "to close, finish, die", with the initial [dh] which, like [bh], often became [f] in Latin. The same stem underlies English dead and death, which comes as no surprise. It is surprising that English dune comes from the same root. Etymologists believe that dune was derived from this root word because hills were favorite places for closed fortresses. However, dunes also look like graves. (Tim Ward suggested today's word after attending too many funerals. We hope he has cheered up since.)

[Slava]

First suggested here, with several comments:

http://www.alphadictionary.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=559

Given a repeat treatment here, with just a couple of additions:

http://www.alphadictionary.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4170

Nice, gloomy word, though. Good for bedtime stories while camping in the night.