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Humorous English etymologies 1 Undertaker

Undertaker (n.)
Funeral director. In America a mortician.
c. 1400, "a contractor or projector of any sort," agent noun from undertake (v.). The specialised sense (1690s) emerged from funeral-undertaker. It is a euphemism. The little joke, of course, is that the undertaker takes the body and puts it six feet under ground.

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