From Latin 'mortuarium' (death payment) — originally a fee paid to the church, later the building for storing the dead.
A room or building in which dead bodies are kept before burial or cremation; a funeral home.
From Medieval Latin mortuarium (a gift to the church on the death of a parishioner, a death-related payment), from Latin mortuus (dead), past participle of mori (to die), from PIE *mor- or *mr- (to die). The word first entered English as a legal and ecclesiastical term: a mortuary was a customary payment made to the incumbent of a parish upon the death of a parishioner — one of the deceased possessions owed to the church. Only in the 19th century did the meaning
The original English meaning of 'mortuary' had nothing to do with buildings. It referred to a payment — often the deceased's second-best animal or garment — owed to the parish priest upon a parishioner's death. These 'mortuary fees' were a significant source of clerical income and a frequent cause