Editing Hearse (section)

==History==
The name is derived, through the French herse, from the Latin {{lang|la|herpex}}, which means a [[Harrow (tool)|harrow]]. The funeral hearse was originally a wooden or metal framework, which stood over the [[bier]] or [[coffin]] and supported the [[Pall (funeral)|pall]]. It was provided with numerous spikes to hold burning candles, and, owing to the resemblance of these spikes to the teeth of a harrow, was called a hearse. Later on, the word was applied, not only to the construction above the coffin, but to any receptacle in which the coffin was placed. Thus<ref name=CE>{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Tenebrae Hearse|inline=1}}</ref> from about 1650<ref name=OED>Oxford English Dictionary Online accessed 26 January 2018</ref> it came to denote the vehicle on which the dead are carried to the grave.<ref name=CE/>

Hearses were originally hand-drawn then horse-drawn after the decoration and weight of the hearse increased. The first electric motorized hearses were introduced to the United States in the early 1900s.<ref name="www.howstuffworks.com">{{cite web|title=A Brief History of Hearses|url=https://auto.howstuffworks.com/hearse1.htm|website=www.howstuffworks.com|date=30 March 2009|access-date=12 May 2018|archive-date=19 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119062358/https://auto.howstuffworks.com/hearse1.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Petrol-powered hearses began to be produced from 1907 and, after slow initial uptake due to their high cost, became widely accepted in the 1920s.<ref name="www.howstuffworks.com"/> The vast majority of hearses since then have been based on larger, more powerful [[automobile|car]] chassis,<ref name="funeralwise.com">{{cite web|title=A history of hearses, plus the tale of the man who set Elvis's hearse on fire|url=https://www.funeralwise.com/digital-dying/a-history-of-hearses-plus-the-tale-of-the-man-who-set-elviss-hearse-on-fire/|website=www.funeralwise.com|date=3 March 2012|access-date=12 May 2018|archive-date=26 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026041042/https://www.funeralwise.com/digital-dying/a-history-of-hearses-plus-the-tale-of-the-man-who-set-elviss-hearse-on-fire/|url-status=live}}</ref> generally retaining the front end up to and possibly including the front doors but with custom bodywork to the rear to contain the coffin.

<gallery mode=packed caption=" Examples of horse-drawn hearses and two hand-drawn hearses>
Coche Fúnebre.JPG|{{Interlanguage link|Museo del Carmen de Maipú|es|Museo del Carmen de Maipú}} [[Maipú, Chile]]
Ter6.jpg|Jewish hearse, [[Theresienstadt concentration camp]], [[Terezín]], Czech Republic
White hearse wagon.jpg|White hearse, USA
File:Convoi Funebres de l Imperatrice Leopoldine by Debret.jpg|Funeral procession of Empress [[Maria Leopoldina of Austria|Maria Leopoldina of Brazil]] with a horse-drawn hearse, 1826
File:Vienna-Schönbrunn Royal Hearse Austria (32938095545).jpg|Imperial hearse from Austria, {{Circa|1888}}
File:Interior of St Bartholomew's Chapel, Botley - geograph.org.uk - 221854 (cropped).jpg|Hand-drawn hearse
Eglise Arc-en-Barrois 281008.jpg|Hand-drawn hearse (church of [[Arc-en-Barrois]], France)
</gallery>

<gallery mode="packed" widths="220px" caption="Examples of motorized hearses">
Corbillard 3.JPG|A hearse [[hippomobile]] (France)
File:SLNSW 8565 1919 model Renault hearse at Wood Coffills funeral parlour.jpg|1919 model Renault hearse, Australia, {{Circa|1930}}
File:Dodge Magnum 2006 (15902557573).jpg|Modern hearse, 2006 Dodge Magnum in Chile
</gallery>
{{clear}}