Thurifer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who carries or uses a censer, particularly in religious ceremonies or liturgical functions
2. An individual responsible for the ritual of burning incense during sacred services or processes
3. One who performs the duty of presenting incense in a decorative holder, typically within a church setting

Etymology: The thurifer is the server at a religious service who swings the censer, the metal vessel holding burning incense. The word is a fairly recent coinage: it was formed in New Latin around 1850 to 1855, built from Latin "thus" or "tus", meaning incense, and "-fer", meaning bearing or carrying. So the word literally means "incense-bearing," a plain description of a job that had existed for centuries before anyone needed a name for it. The Latin "thus" is the older stem here, and it reaches back to Greek "thuos," a word for burnt offering or sacrifice. Latin speakers used "tus" for frankincense and related resins, and the same root gives English a handful of other words through Latin. The "-fer" ending is the same one found in "ferry," "fertile," and "coniferous," all from the Latin verb "ferre," to bear or carry.