Epitaph
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) An inscription on, or at, a tomb, or a grave, in memory or commendation of the one buried there; a sepulchral inscription.
(2): ( n.) A brief writing formed as if to be inscribed on a monument, as that concerning Alexander: "Sufficit huic tumulus, cui non sufficeret orbis."
(3): ( v. t.) To commemorate by an epitaph.
(4): ( v. i.) To write or speak after the manner of an epitaph.
The Nuttall Encyclopedia [2]
An inscription placed on a tombstone in commemoration of the dead interred below. The natural feeling which prompts such inscriptions has manifested itself among all civilised peoples, and not a little of a nation's character may be read in them. The Greeks reserved epitaphs for their heroes, but amongst the Romans grew up the modern custom of marking the tombs of relatives with some simple inscription, many of their sepulchres being placed on the side of the public roads, a circumstance which explains the phrase, Siste, viator —Stay, traveller—found in old graveyards.
