sarcophagus

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English

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WOTD – 6 November 2022

Etymology

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The Fourth Dynasty (c. 2613 – 2494 B.C.E.) sarcophagus (sense 1) of Khufuankh, found in Giza, Egypt.[n 1]
The modern sarcophagus (sense 1) of German politician Franz Adickes in the Frankfurt Main Cemetery, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
The sarcophagus (sense 2.1) enclosing the nuclear reactor number 4 building of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, which suffered a meltdown in 1986. Since 2019, the sarcophagus has itself been enclosed in the Chernobyl New Safe Confinement.
An illustration of a sideboard with a sarcophagus (sense 2.2) beneath it.[n 2] To cool bottles of wine, the lid of the sarcophagus is removed, and the bottles are placed in the sarcophagus which is then filled with ice.

The noun is borrowed from Latin sarcophagus (“grave; sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”), from Ancient Greek σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (sarkophágos, “sarcophagus; flesh-eating, carnivorous”) (so named from λῐ́θος σᾰρκοφᾰ́γος (líthos sarkophágos, literally “flesh-eating stone”) a type of limestone found at Assos in Troas (now Behramkale, Turkey) thought to consume the flesh of corpses, and thus used to make coffins), from σαρκός (sarkós) (the genitive form of σάρξ (sárx, “flesh; body”), from Proto-Indo-European *twerḱ- (“to carve; to cut off, trim”)) + -φάγος (-phágos, suffix meaning ‘eater (of); eating’) (from ἔφαγον (éphagon, “to devour, eat”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂g- (“to allot, distribute; to divide”)).[1]

The plural form sarcophagi is borrowed from Latin sarcophagī.

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses or (rare) sarcophagusses)

  1. A stone coffin, often with its exterior inscribed, or decorated with sculpture.
    Synonym: (obsolete) sarcophage
    • 1619, Samuel Purchas, “Mans Retrograde to a Belly, Spider, Idle, Idoll-belly: The Titles, Temples, Sacrifices, Incense, Liturgies, Students, Lawes, Sacraments, Deuotions of God-belly”, in Purchas His Pilgrim. Microcosmus, or The Historie of Man. […], 2nd edition, London: […] [William Stansby, Bernard Alsop, and Thomas Fawcet] for Tho[mas] Alchorn, […], published 1627, →OCLC, page 329:
      [T]his (venter impiorum inſaturabilis [the insatiable belly of the wicked]) in foure & tvventie houres conſumes many carkaſſes of Fiſhes and Fovvles, and generally tvvice a day all the fleſh therein interred; ſo true a Sarcophagus is the belly: […]
      A figurative use.
    • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, “Rome”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, pages 310–311:
      One meets vvith many other Figures of Meleager in the ancient Baſſo Relievo's, and on the Sides of the Sarcophagi, or Funeral Monuments.
    • 1762, Horace Walpole, “Painters in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. [Jsaac Oliver.]”, in Anecdotes of Painting in England; […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Farmer […], →OCLC, page 166:
      This monument (made to ſtand upon the ground, but novv raiſed much above the eye on a heavy baſe projecting from the vvall) is a ſarcophagus vvith ribbed vvork and mouldings, ſomevvhat antique, placed on a baſement ſupporting pretty large Corinthian columns of alabaſter, vvhich uphold an entablature, and form a ſort of canopy over it.
    • 1835, Emma Roberts, “The Taj Mahal, at Agra”, in Views in India, China, and on the Shores of the Red Sea; […], volume I, London: H. Fisher, R. Fisher, & P. Jackson, […], →OCLC, page 22:
      The interior of the Taje exceeds the promise given by its external magnificence: on a platform in the centre of a circular hall, are the sarcophaguses of Shah Jehan, and his beloved empress [Mumtaz Mahal], enclosed within a carved screen of the most elaborate tracery and exquisite finish. These sarcophaguses, and the surrounding walls and screens, are covered with flowers and inscriptions of the most delicate mosaic work, in every variety of cornelian, agate, jasper, lapis lazuli, and other precious marbles.
    • 1840 May 12, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture III. The Hero as Poet. Dante; Shakespeare.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 86:
      On the lids of those Tombs; square sarcophaguses, in that silent dim-burning Hall, each with its Soul in torment; the lids open there; they are to be shut at the Day of Judgment, through Eternity.
    • 1980 October, Douglas Adams, chapter 23, in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, London: Pan Books, →ISBN, page 132:
      On closer inspection the coffins seemed to be more like sarcophagi. They stood about waist high and were constructed of what appeared to be white marble, […]
    • 2004, Robin [Jeremy] Brooks, “Third Fragment: Discovery”, in The Portland Vase: The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Mysterious Roman Treasure, New York, N.Y.: HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 29:
      The swinging lantern reveals a burial chamber; below him lies a sarcophagus, and it appears to be undisturbed. […] He examines the sarcophagus by the light of the lantern. It is a sumptuous piece of work, decorated with reliefs that show scenes from the life of Achilles. […] Trembling with excitement, Fabrizio [Lazzaro] orders his assistants to lift the heavy sarcophagus lid. The chamber itself seems to be holding its breath. What he finds surpasses his expectations. Inside the sarcophagus lies one of the greatest treasures of the ancient world; Fabrizio has hit the jackpot; he has found the vase.
  2. (by extension)
    1. (informal) The cement and steel structure that encases the destroyed nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
      • 2012, Tom Bryson, chapter 35, in Sarcophagus, S.l.: TJB Books, →ISBN, page 231:
        'They move stuff out of the sarcophagus?' / 'I know, crazy people, they're killing themselves from radiation.' […] '[S]o the materials, plutonium, catalysis, are assembled at a site near the sarcophagus?' […] '[W]hat we know is this, they collect the plutonium, etc, from Chernobyl, what they don't have yet – is the know-how. To put the bomb together.'
    2. (historical) A type of wine cooler (“a piece of equipment used to keep wine chilled”) shaped like a sarcophagus (sense 1).
      • 1833, J[ohn] C[laudius] Loudon, “Of the Furniture of Villas”, in An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture; […], London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman;  […], →OCLC, book III (Designs for Villas, with Various Degrees of Accommodation, and in Different Styles of Architecture), page 1045:
        There is an open sarcophagus-shaped wine-cooler beneath, standing on a plinth. The inside of the wine-cooler may either be lined with lead, or it may contain a block-tin case, with handles, to lift out. Ice is frequently put into these wine-coolers, in order to surround the decanters or bottles set in them, when the wine is to be cooled. Castors are sunk into the plinth of the sarcophagus, that it may be drawn out from beneath the sideboard, and pushed in again at pleasure. […] A sarcophagus with a hinged lid below, fixed on a hollow plinth with castors, is partitioned and lined with lead, so that ice can be put round each separate bottle.
      • 2015, Judith Miller, “Furniture”, in Miller’s Antiques Handbook & Price Guide 2016–2017, London: Miller’s, Mitchell Beazley, →ISBN, page 251:
        A George VI mahogany sarcophagus wine cooler, with nulled mouldings and brass ring handles, the turned stem on leaf carved and moulded legs and brass castors.
  3. (obsolete except Ancient Greece, historical) A kind of limestone used by the Ancient Greeks for coffins, so called because it was thought to consume the flesh of corpses.
    • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVI.] Of Certaine Stones which will Quickly Consume the Bodies that be Laid therein. Of Others Againe that Preserve Them a Long Time. Of the Stone Called Assius, and the Medicinable Properties thereof.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 587:
      Near unto Aſſos, a citie in Troas, there is found in the quarries a certaine ſtone called Sarcophagus, vvhich runneth in a direct veine, and is apt to be cloven and ſo cut out of the rocke by flakes: The reaſon of the name is this, becauſe that vvithin the ſpace of fortie daies it is knovvne for certain to conſume the bodies of the dead vvhich are beſtovved therein, skin, fleſh, and bone, all ſave the teeth.
    • a. 1681 (date written), Samuel Butler, “A Glutton”, in R[obert] Thyer, editor, The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler, […], volume II, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1759, →OCLC, page 461:
      His Entrails are like the Sarcophagus, that devours dead Bodies in a ſmall Space, […]

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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sarcophagus (third-person singular simple present sarcophaguses, present participle sarcophagusing, simple past and past participle sarcophagused)

  1. (transitive) To enclose (a corpse, etc.) in a sarcophagus (noun sense 1).
    Synonyms: sarcophagise, sarcophagize
    • 1862 April, [Dinah Maria Mulock], “Waiting”, in David Masson, editor, Macmillan’s Magazine, volume V, number 30, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, London: Macmillan and Co. […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 464:
      All waiting: the new-coffined dead, / The handful of mere dust that lies / Sarcophagused in stone and lead / Under the weight of centuries: / Knight, cardinal, bishop, abbess mild, / With last week's buried year-old child.
    • 1876 January 8, “Preface”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume 69, London: […] Bradbury, Agnew, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages iii–iv:
      Was it the Mummy of King Cheops—still sarcophagused in the labyrinthine recesses of the star-y-pointing Pyramid, to mock generations of Egyptologists, past, present, and to come—that had all at once found a tongue within his desiccated jaws?
    • 1913, Rudyard Kipling, “[Egypt of the Magicians.] Dead Kings.”, in Letters of Travel (1892–1913), London: Macmillan and Co., […], published 1920, →OCLC, page 261:
      Even the sight of a very great king indeed, sarcophagused under electric light in a hall full of most fortifying pictures, does not hold him [a visitor to the Valley of the Kings, Egypt] too long.

Translations

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Notes

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  1. ^ From the collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt.
  2. ^ From J[ohn] C[laudius] Loudon (1839) “Of the Furniture of Villas”, in An Encyclopædia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and Furniture; […], new edition, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans, and sold by John Weale, […], →OCLC, book III (Designs for Villas, with Various Degrees of Accommodation, and in Different Styles of Architecture), figure 1873, page 1045.

References

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  1. ^ “sarcophagus, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2022; “sarcophagus, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Latin

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Etymology

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From Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos, “coffin of limestone”), σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos, “flesh-eating, carnivorous”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sarcophagus m (genitive sarcophagī); second declension

  1. a grave, sepulchre

Declension

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Second-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative sarcophagus sarcophagī
genitive sarcophagī sarcophagōrum
dative sarcophagō sarcophagīs
accusative sarcophagum sarcophagōs
ablative sarcophagō sarcophagīs
vocative sarcophage sarcophagī

Descendants

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Adjective

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sarcophagus (feminine sarcophaga, neuter sarcophagum); first/second-declension adjective

  1. flesh-devouring, carnivorous
  2. a kind of limestone used for coffins

Declension

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First/second-declension adjective.

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
nominative sarcophagus sarcophaga sarcophagum sarcophagī sarcophagae sarcophaga
genitive sarcophagī sarcophagae sarcophagī sarcophagōrum sarcophagārum sarcophagōrum
dative sarcophagō sarcophagae sarcophagō sarcophagīs
accusative sarcophagum sarcophagam sarcophagum sarcophagōs sarcophagās sarcophaga
ablative sarcophagō sarcophagā sarcophagō sarcophagīs
vocative sarcophage sarcophaga sarcophagum sarcophagī sarcophagae sarcophaga

References

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