Coroners

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A public official who examines bodies to investigate deaths under unusual circumstances, determining the cause of death and any legal matters involved
2. An appointed authority that reviews unexplained deaths by conducting autopsies and testimonials to uncover the circumstances surrounding the death
3. A designated official responsible for investigating unexplained deaths through autopsies and interviews, ascertaining causes and legal implications

Etymology: The office predates the word by a few centuries in a sense that matters: its first job was guarding royal money, not inspecting corpses. The Latin phrase behind the English word, "custos placitorum coronae," meant "guardian of the crown's pleas," and the officials it named were responsible for protecting property that belonged to the king. Death investigation came later, as the role absorbed the duty of recording deaths and the property forfeited along with them. The English word came through Medieval Latin into Old French as "curuner," then arrived in Middle English as "coroner." It is a doublet of "crown," meaning the two words descend from the same source and entered English by different routes. The office is named for the crown itself, which is why the word connects to a royal headpiece and to the legal authority of the monarch rather than to anything about death.