Houselyng

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The sacrament of Holy Communion administered to a person who is dying or gravely ill, traditionally as a final spiritual preparation
2. Communion received by someone near death, given as a last rite to strengthen the soul before departure from this life
3. A medieval term for the consecrated bread and wine offered to a dying Christian as their final sacramental comfort

Etymology: Hamlet's father's ghost is denied a proper death, and Shakespeare's Hamlet describes it as "unhouseled," meaning he died without receiving the Eucharist. That usage shows the word's core sense: the sacrament of communion, and the act of giving it, especially to the dying. The spelling "houselyng" is a variant of "houseling," a form that English took from Old English "hūsel," a term for the Eucharist. Old English "hūsel" is related to Gothic "hunsl," which meant "sacrifice." Early Christian writers used the old word for the consecrated bread and wine, so a term for pagan or Germanic sacrifice was gradually turned toward the Mass. Because the sacrament was often given at a person's deathbed, "houseling" came to suggest last rites. That is why a character who died without it, like Hamlet's father, is described as lacking this final comfort.