obsequy

From Latin obsequiī (“complaisant, yielding”), alteration of obsequia (“compliance”) (by confusion, in association with exsequia (“funeral rites”), from exsequī (“follow or accompany to the grave”)).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɔbsɪ.kwiː/

obsequy (plural obsequies)

1. The last office for the dead.
2. (chiefly in the plural) A funeral rite or service.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], OCLC 230972125; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: Printed by [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, OCLC 932884868, folio i, verso, lines 133–135, column 2:

     And to the ladyes he reſtored agayn / The bodyes of her huſbandes yͭ were ſlayn / To done obſequies as tho was the gyſe

     (please add an English translation of this quote)

   • 1919 — Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 13

     But, to-day, there were no obsequies to observe at all.

In modern usage, the word is used mainly in the plural – obsequies – which should not to be confused with obsequious.