"an establishment for burning the bodies of the dead," 1880, from Latin cremator-, stem of cremare "to burn" (see cremation) + -orium (see -ory). Classical plural is crematoria.
Entries linking to crematorium
cremation n.
"act or custom of burning of the dead," 1620s, from Latin cremationem (nominative crematio), noun of action from past-participle stem of cremare "to burn, consume by fire" (also used of the dead), from PIE *krem-, extended form of root *ker- (3) "heat, fire."
The adoption of cremation would relieve us of a muck of threadbare burial-witticisms; but, on the other hand, it would resurrect a lot of mildewed old cremation-jokes that have had a rest for two thousand years. ["Mark Twain," "Life on the Mississippi," 1883]
-ory
adjective and noun suffix, "having to do with, characterized by, tending to, place for," from Middle English -orie, from Old North French -ory, -orie (Old French -oir, -oire), from Latin -orius, -oria, -orium.
Latin adjectives in -orius, according to "An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language," tended to "indicate a quality proper to the action accomplished by the agent; as oratorius from orator; laudatorius from laudator. The neuter of these adjectives was early employed as a substantive, and usually denoted the place of residence of the agent or the instrument that he uses; as praetorium from praetor; dormitorium from dormitor; auditorium, dolatorium.
"These newer words, already frequent under the Empire, became exceedingly numerous at a later time, especially in ecclesiastical and scholastic Latin; as purgatorium, refectorium, laboratorium, observatorium, &c." [transl. G.W. Kitchin, Oxford, 1878]
crematory n.
1874, the nativized form of crematorium. From 1848 as an adjective, "connected with or employed in cremation" originally of ancient urns).