Bearers, i.e. persons who carry the dead to the grave; mutes, etc. So called from the corbillards, or coches dʹeau, which went from Paris to Corbeil with the deadbodies of those who died in the 16th century of a fatal epidemic.
“Jʹai lu quelque part que ce coche [the Gorbillard] servit, sous Henri IV., a transporter des morts, victimes dʹune épidémie de Paris à Corbeil. Le nom de Corbillard resta depuis aux voitures funèbres.”—Alf. Bonnardot.
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