obsequyとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From 中期英語 obseque, from Old French obseque, osseque, from Latin obsequiī (“complaisant, yielding”), alteration of obsequia (“compliance”) (by confusion, in association with exsequia (“funeral rites”), from exsequī (“follow or accompany to the grave”)).

発音

• (英国発音, 米国発音) IPA: /ˈɔbsɪ.kwiː/

名詞

obsequy (plural obsequies)

1. The last office for the dead.
2. (chiefly in the plural) A funeral rite or service.
   • 1478, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales:

     And to the ladyes he reſtored agayn / The bodyes of her huſbandes yͭ were ſlayn / To done obſequies as tho was the gyſe.

     And to the ladies he restored again / The bodies of their husbands that were slain / To do obsequies as then was the custom.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     It was a rather ghastly ceremony, but it was the only means in our power of showing our respect to the faithful dead and of celebrating his obsequies.

   • 1919 , Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 13:

     But, to-day, there were no obsequies to observe at all.

使用する際の注意点

• In modern usage, the word is used mainly in the plural, obsequies, which should not be confused with obsequious.

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