Editing Lychgate (section)

==Etymology==
The word ''lych'' survived into modern English from the Old English or [[Old English language|Saxon]] word for "corpse", mostly as an adjective in particular phrases or names, such as ''lych bell'', the hand-bell rung before a corpse; ''[[corpse road|lych way]]'', the path along which a corpse was carried to burial (this in some districts was supposed to establish a [[Rights of way in England and Wales|right-of-way]]); ''lych owl'', the [[Western barn owl|screech owl]], because its cry was a portent of death; and ''lyke-wake'', a night watch over a corpse (''see [[Lyke-Wake Dirge]]'').

It is cognate with the modern German ''Leiche'', [[Dutch Language Union|Dutch]] ''lijk'' and ''[[wikt:lichaam|lichaam]]'', [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]] ''lyk'' and [[Swedish language|Swedish]] ''lik'', all meaning "corpse".

Lychgate in Swedish is called ''stiglucka'', literally "step hatch". The explanation is that the gate was split horizontally so that you could step over the lower part without having to open it. Therefore, one can also guess another meaning of ''lych'' (''lyke'', ''luke'', ''lucka'' "hatch, gap") from the Scandinavian languages.