epicedium means an epicede: a dirge, lament, elegy. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “epicedium” is a great word
EPICEDIUM — [Noun] A formal poetic lament composed to be delivered over the body of the deceased. Its name is a learned borrowing from Latin epicēdīum, from Ancient Greek ἐπικήδειον (epikḗdeion), neuter of ἐπικήδειος (epikḗdeios, "of or for a funeral"), from ἐπί (epí, "upon") + κῆδος (kêdos, "care, grief, funeral rites"). First attested in English 1580–90. Unlike an elegy, a reflective poem of lament that may mourn an abstract loss, or a threnody, a general song of grief not bound to the ritual site, an epicedium is an anchored performance—a ceremony of words enacted at the precipice of absence. It is the low chant of mourners cutting the still air, the scent of wax and lilies hanging about the recited lines, the deliberate placement of language as a final shroud—a public grammar for a private void, insisting on order precisely where order has ended.
noun
- An epicede: a dirge, lament, elegy.