post-mortem

also postmortem, 1734 as an adverb, "after death," from Latin post mortem, from post "after" (see post-) + mortem, accusative of mors "death" (from PIE root *mer- "to rub away, harm," also "to die" and forming words referring to death and to beings subject to death). From 1835 as an adjective, "subsequent to death." As a noun, shortening of post-mortem examination, it is recorded from 1850. The Latin phrase ante mortem "before death" is attested in English by 1823.

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post-

word-forming element meaning "after," from Latin post "behind, after, afterward," from *pos-ti (source also of Arcadian pos, Doric poti "toward, to, near, close by;" Old Church Slavonic po "behind, after," pozdu "late;" Lithuanian pas "at, by"), from PIE *apo- (source also of Greek apo "from," Latin ab "away from" see apo-).

*mer-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to rub away, harm." Possibly identical with the root *mer- that means "to die" and forms words referring to death and to beings subject to death.

It forms all or part of: amaranth; ambrosia; amortize; Amritsar; immortal; manticore; marasmus; mare (n.3) "night-goblin, incubus;" morbid; mordacious; mordant; moribund; morsel; mort (n.2) "note sounded on a horn at the death of the quarry;" mortal; mortality; mortar; mortgage; mortify; mortmain; mortuary; murder; murrain; nightmare; post-mortem; remorse.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit mrnati "crushes, bruises," mriyate "to kill," martave "to die," mrta- "died, dead," mrtih "death," martah "mortal man," amrta- "immortal;" Avestan miriia- "to die," miryeite "dies," Old Persian martiya- "man;" Hittite mer- "to disappear, vanish," marnu- "to make disappear;" Armenian meranim "to die;" Greek marainein "to consume, exhaust, put out, quench," marasmus "consumption," emorten "died," brotos "mortal" (hence ambrotos "immortal"); Latin mors (genitive mortis) "death," mori "to die;" Armenian merani- "to die;" Gothic maurþr, Old English morþ "murder;" Old Irish marb, Welsh marw "dead;" Lithuanian mirti "to die," mirtis "death;" Old Church Slavonic mreti "to die," mrutvu "dead;" Russian mertvyj, Serbo-Croatian mrtav "dead."

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Definitions of post-mortem

post-mortem (n.)

discussion of an event after it has occurred;

Synonyms: postmortem

post-mortem (n.)

an examination and dissection of a dead body to determine cause of death or the changes produced by disease;

Synonyms: autopsy / necropsy / postmortem / pm / postmortem examination / post-mortem examination

From wordnet.princeton.edu

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