Mysteries of vernacular: Hearse - Jessica Oreck

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Mysteries of vernacular. Hearse: the vehicle used to convey a coffin at a funeral. The roots of the word hearse can be traced back thousands of years. Topus, which meant wolf in the ancient Ient Osan language of southern Italy. Herpes, when transmuted into Latin, became herpex, alluding to the physicality of a wolf's sharp teeth.

Herpex was the name for a large rake, a heavy triangular frame with iron teeth used to harrow the earth. When herpex became HSE in old French, the focus shifted from the teeth of the rake to its construction, and the meaning of the word was simplified to "frame." In the 13th century, HSE shifted to hearse in English and referred specifically to a framework used for holding candles.

The triangular candelabra eventually found its place over coffins during funerals. As funeral rites developed, so did the definition. In the 16th century, HSE referred to the a port for the funeral pall, the cloth over a coffin, and in the 17th century to the bier, the stand on which the coffin stood.

It eventually came to describe the horse-drawn carriage that conveyed a casket to its place of burial. And today, of course, it refers to that looming, black, shiny shape we all know so well.