"burial, the act of depositing in the ground," early 14c., from Old French enterrement "burial, interment," from enterrer (see inter (v.)).
c. 1300, mote "a mound, a hill" (a sense now obsolete); late 14c., "ditch or deep trench dug round the rampart of a castle or other fortified place," from Old French mote "mound, hillock, embankment; castle built on a hill" (12c.; Modern French motte) and directly from Medieval Latin mota "mound, fortified height," a word of unknown origin, perhaps from Gaulish mutt, mutta.
The sense shifted in Norman French from the castle mound to the ditch dug around it. For a similar evolution, compare ditch (n.) and dike. As a verb, "to surround with a moat," early 15c. Related: Moated.
"burial, interment," early 14c., from Old French sepulture, sepouture "tomb, coffin" (12c.) and directly from Latin sepultura "burial, funeral obsequies," from sepult-, past-participle stem of sepelire "to bury" (see sepulchre). In Middle English it was confused with sepulchre. Related: Sepultural.
1510s, "of or pertaining to the burial of the dead," from Late Latin mortuarius "of the dead," from Latin mortuus "dead" (see mortuary (n.)).
