Historical cause of death 1500s-1700s
What did imposthume mean on a death certificate?
On a death record, an imposthume meant an abscess, a gathering of matter inside the body that burst or poisoned the patient. In modern terms it usually pointed to an internal abscess or empyema. The word is a mangled descendant of the Greek apostema and appears throughout the early bills of mortality. Expect it on records mostly 1500s-1700s.
Also written on records as: impostume, gathering, aposteme.
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Related terms
Browse the full genealogy records glossary for more occupations, causes of death, and legal terms.
FAQs
What is imposthume called today?+
An internal abscess or empyema, broadly speaking. Doctors of the period diagnosed without laboratory tests, so one label often covered several conditions we would now separate. This page explains historical record language and is not medical advice.
How was imposthume written on death records?+
Clerks and doctors also wrote impostume, gathering, and aposteme. Spelling wandered from register to register, so check every variant before you decide a record is missing or wrong.
Where do these definitions come from?+
They are drawn from period dictionaries, government archive glossaries, and standard genealogy references, cross-checked against each other; provenance is documented with the dataset. Inside AncestorIQ, Deep Research reads the record itself and explains terms like this in context, against your ancestor's own document.
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