obit

The word 'obit' entered English in the late Middle English period, directly from the Latin 'obitus', signifying "death" or "a departure." Its ultimate origin lies in the Latin verb 'obire', a compound of 'ob-' (toward) and 'ire' (to go), literally meaning "to go to meet" or "to perish." This etymological journey reflects a conceptual shift from the physical act of "going toward" something to the specific, final event one meets: death. In modern usage, 'obit' is a concise, often journalistic term for a death notice, preserving its core association with mortality while shedding its more general Latin sense of a meeting or approach.

The word 'obit' is a simplex loanword from Latin. It is a direct borrowing of the Latin 'obitus', meaning "a going down, a meeting (as of death), a death." The Latin term itself is derived from the verb 'obire', meaning "to go to meet, to die," which is formed from 'ob-' (toward, against) and 'ire' (to go).