Reburial

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of interring a body again after it has been previously buried
2. The process of placing a deceased person's remains into the ground for a second time following an earlier burial
3. Referring to the ritual of re-committing a corpse to the earth, often for reasons of remembrance or relocation

Etymology: "Reburial" is about as transparent as English compounds get: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back," attached to "burial," the act of placing a body in the ground. The result is simply a second interment, usually of remains that were already buried and have been dug up and laid to rest again, often in a new place. The prefix itself has a long road into English. It descends from a Proto-Italic root and reached Latin as "re-", which Latin speakers used freely to signal repetition or reversal. Old French inherited that prefix, and Middle English borrowed it through French, so English speakers have been attaching "re-" to verbs and nouns for centuries. "Burial" was already in place by then, and "reburial" follows the same pattern as countless other "re-" formations.

Synonyms: interment, entombment