Dec 08, 2008 20:31
sepulcher \SEP-uhl-kuhr\, noun:
1. a burial place; tomb
2. a structure or niche in a church in which sacred relics are deposited on Good Friday and removed on Easter
c.1200, "tomb, burial place," especially in reference to the cave where Jesus was buried outside Jerusalem (Holy Sepulcher or Saint Sepulcher), from Old French sepulcre (11th century), from Latin sepulcrum "grave, tomb," from root of sepelire "to bury," originally "to perform rituals on a corpse."