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You are here: Home / Language / How Did the Term “Late” Originate and Why is it Used to Describe the Recently Deceased?

How Did the Term “Late” Originate and Why is it Used to Describe the Recently Deceased?

March 22, 2020 by Karen Hill

To prefix a person’s name with “the late” certainly signifies that he or she is dead.

Although you would be correct in using it only with the name of someone who had died within the past twenty years.

The use of the word began with medieval rulers, whose first name often had been passed down through generations of males.

To avoid confusion with the living monarch, i.e., James II, his deceased father would be referred to as “the late King James.”

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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