posthumous

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 25, 2020 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>posthumous</strong> &#149; \PAHSS-chuh-muss\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><strong>1 :</strong> born after the death of the father</p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> published after the death of the author</p> <p><strong>3 :</strong> following or occurring after death</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>Published eleven years following his death in 1969, John Kennedy Toole's novel <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Confederacy_of_Dunces">A Confederacy of Dunces</a></em> earned the author <em>posthumous</em> fame as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.</p> <p>"Sharon Jones may no longer be with us, but her legacy continues to endure in the form of <em>posthumous</em> releases. Daptone Records released a new Dusty Springfield cover from the upcoming Sharon Jones &amp; the Dap-Kings album, <em>Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Rendition Was In</em>." — <a href="https://www.spin.com/2020/10/sharon-jones-the-dap-kings-cover-dusty-springfields-little-by-little/">Emily Tan, <em>Spin</em>, 7 Oct. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>The etymology of the word <em>posthumous</em> tells a complex story. In Latin, <em>posterus</em> is an adjective meaning "coming after" (from <em>post</em>, meaning "after"). The comparative form of <em>posterus</em> is <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posterior">posterior</a></em>, and its superlative form is <em>postumus</em>, which means, among other things, "last." <em>Postumus</em> had specific application in referring to the last of a man's children, which in some cases meant those born after he had died. Latin speakers incorrectly identified the -<em>umus</em> in this word with <em>humus</em>, meaning "dirt" or "earth" (suggesting the ground in which the unfortunate father