WORD: Apopemptic

adjective

Pertaining to leave-taking or departing; valedictory.

ORIGIN

The English apopemptic is a straightforward borrowing of the Greek adjective apopemptikós, “pertaining to dismissal, valedictory,” a derivative of the adverb and preposition apό- “off, away” and the verb pémpein “to send,” a verb with no clear etymology. The Greek noun pompḗ, a derivative of pémpein, means “escort, procession, parade, magnificence,” adopted into Latin as pompa (with the same meanings), used in Christian Latin to refer to the ostentations of the devil, especially in baptismal formulas, e.g., “Do you reject the devil and all his pomps?” Apopemptic entered English in the mid-18th century.

HOW IS APOPEMPTIC USED?

As Opal Codd said sweetly my last day, her apopemptic word for me was “agathism.” Once again, I could do no more but ask her to translate. “My dear,” she said, “apopemptic! Pertaining to farewell, of course.” “Of course. But ‘agathism’? A belief in Agatha Christie?”
GILLIAN ROBERTS, ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS, 2007

For you the gods of song forgo their quarrel; / Panther and Wolf forget their former anger; / For you this ancient ceremony of greeting / Becomes a solemn apopemptic hymn.
A. D. HOPE, "SOLEDADES OF THE SUN AND MOON,"