1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Obsequies

OBSEQUIES (Med. Lat. obsequiae, formed after class. Lat. exsequiae), a term for funeral rites and ceremonies, especially such as are carried out with great ceremony. The Lat. obsequium (from obsequi, to follow close after) produced the obsolete English “obsequy,” in the sense of ready complaisant service, especially of an inferior to a superior, still found in the adjective “obsequious.”