finally , we ’re all run to end up in a burial site . Or is that a burial site ? What ’s the difference of opinion , anyway ?
These solar day , the solvent is “ not much . ” Both are places where we immerse the dearly departed , and the words are often used interchangeably . But that has n’t always been the case — in fact , the words ’ substance have sort of flip - flopped .
The Big Switch
Cemeteryis the sometime of the two words ; it ’s educe from the Latincoemētēriumand first appear in the mid-1400s . According tothe Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ) , it “ Originally apply to the Roman Catholic underground graveyard or catacombs , ” or gallery with tomb for body along the sides . The first known use from J. Capgrave’sAbbreuiacion of Cronicles , is just barely legible today : “ Anicetus … was biried in the cymytery of Kalixt . ”
Over time , the significance ofcemeteryshifted from the underground catacomb to burial grounds closer to the surface , and by 1485 , it had come to refer to the dedicated ground next to a church service , a.k.a . a churchyard ( a custom that , per the OED , is now obsolete ) . Since the 1600s , cemeteryhas referred to a more general burial priming coat , peculiarly “ a large public parking area or dry land laid out expressly for the interment of the utter , and not being the ‘ cubic yard ’ of any church service , ” according to the OED . Think of billet like Paris ’s Pere Lachaise or Brooklyn ’s Green - wood Cemetery , which were both design with the express purpose of serve as interment grounds for large amounts of people , no matter their spiritual inclination .
Graveyardis a new word , and was initially a much more religiously achromatic one : When it first popped up in English in the mid-1700s , it but meant “ a entombment ground . ” The OED pinpoints 1767 as its first use , when it appeared in P. V. Fithian’sJournal & Letters:“He mean it for a Satire upon the neglect of the masses in digest their Grave - Yard to lie common . ”
While “ burial ground ” remains the OED ’s sole meaning forgraveyard , other sources — including somefuneral providers , Dictionary.com , andthe Huffington Post — say that these day , the word refers to small burying areas near churches . As Titan Casketputs it , “ Graveyards are often tie in with churches and are thus always located on church building grounds . owe to state limitations , graveyards lean to be smaller in sizing , and are , therefore , more thought-provoking to secure . In most cases , cemetery only leave member of the same religion , and more specifically , the same church service , to be buried on their premise . ”
A Graveyard of Metaphors
The biggest difference betweencemeteryandgraveyard — at least , linguistically speaking — may be that the latter is used more often in metaphor . Since the mid-1800s , good example have been witness in print of nonliteral graveyards , as the full term has examine an apt signifier of final resting places of all sort . A 1969 use inThe Daily Telegraphis distinctive of this sense : “ The M1 motorway was a graveyard of cars abandoned across all six lanes . ”
Such comparisons are very vulgar , as seen in recent news stories that refer to a “ burying ground of unique architecture , ” “ the necropolis of empires , ” a “ Halloween Graveyard for QB Victims , ” a “ graveyard of bottles , ” a “ graveyard of education , ” and a picture show described as a “ Graveyard of Loose Ends . ”
There ’s alsograveyard shimmy , a somewhat spooky condition for a portion of a line performed at night . That term is first witness in a 1907 issue ofCollier’s:“From the gin mill come the clink of the chips . For it was the ‘ tomb ~ yard gambler ’ shift … The pocket-sized hours of the morning … are theirs . ”
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