1) Oscan hirpus, “wolf. Oscan was a now-extinct language spoken in Southern Italy at least until the 1st century CE. Quite a few Oscan graffiti have been found in Pompeii.
2) Borrowed into Latin as hirpex, "rake", the semantic link evidently being teeth.
3) The meaning was extended to mean a harrow and came into Medieval Latin as hercia, Old French as herce and then into Middle English as hierche or herse.
4) Now the meaning was further extended to describe a triangular candelabra placed over a coffin.
Henry VIII had three herses, the largest being about 10 m high.
5) Finally we get to modern use of the word hearse, which has come to mean a wheeled conveyance for a coffin.
The bulk of the information I have used is from Wiktionary, which suggests that Oscan hirpus is from a PIE root *ghers-, "bristly" and related to Latin hirsutus and Modern English hirsute, "hairy". Herse can also mean a portcullis or gate.
Hearse is probably also related to rehearse, deriving from Old French rehercier, "re-harrow", "rake over again".
Pictures generated by Copilot, 27 September, 2025.
The Insane Etymology Of "Hearse" - With Pictures
A 2,000-year long story
1) Oscan hirpus, “wolf. Oscan was a now-extinct language spoken in Southern Italy at least until the 1st century CE. Quite a few Oscan graffiti have been found in Pompeii.
2) Borrowed into Latin as hirpex, "rake", the semantic link evidently being teeth.
3) The meaning was extended to mean a harrow and came into Medieval Latin as hercia, Old French as herce and then into Middle English as hierche or herse.
4) Now the meaning was further extended to describe a triangular candelabra placed over a coffin.
Henry VIII had three herses, the largest being about 10 m high.
5) Finally we get to modern use of the word hearse, which has come to mean a wheeled conveyance for a coffin.
The bulk of the information I have used is from Wiktionary, which suggests that Oscan hirpus is from a PIE root *ghers-, "bristly" and related to Latin hirsutus and Modern English hirsute, "hairy". Herse can also mean a portcullis or gate.
Hearse is probably also related to rehearse, deriving from Old French rehercier, "re-harrow", "rake over again".
Pictures generated by Copilot, 27 September, 2025.