"act of burying," late 13c.; earlier "tomb" (c. 1200), false singular from Old English byrgels "tomb," from byrgan "to bury" + suffix -els; a compound also found in Old Saxon burgisli, suggesting a Proto-Germanic *burgisli-, from PIE root *bhergh- (1) "to hide, protect." The Germanic suffix *-isli- (also in riddle (n.1), Old English hydels "hiding place," fætels "bag") became obsolete and was felt as a plural of the Latin-derived suffix -al (2) forming nouns of action from verbs (survival, approval, removal, etc.). In the "act of burying a dead person" sense it is now regarded as bury + -al. Burial-ground is from 1803.

"a second or subsequent burial, a burying again," also re-burial, 1783; see re- "back, again" + burial (n.). Related: Rebury; reburied.

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to hide, protect." It forms all or part of: bargain; borrow; burial; bury; harbor; hauberk; scabbard.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Old English Old English borgian "to lend, be surety for;" Old Church Slavonic brěgo "I preserve, guard," Lithuanian bìrginti "be parsimonious." But, absent other possible cognates, Boutkan writes that it is not certainly Indo-European and "probably a substratum word."

1610s, "of or pertaining to a burial, burial customs, or a place of burial," from Latin sepulcralis "of a tomb, sepulchral," from sepulcrum (see sepulchre) + -al (1). Transferred sense of "gloomy, suggestive of a graveyard or tomb" is from 1711. Related: Sepulchrally.

"burial, the act of depositing in the ground," early 14c., from Old French enterrement "burial, interment," from enterrer (see inter (v.)).

"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.)).

"ground adjoining a church," especially if used for burial, late Old English, from church (n.) + yard (n.1).