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Sarcophagus
5 dictionary results for: Sarcophagus
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
sar·coph·a·gus       [sahr-kof-uh-guhs] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural -gi       [-jahy] Pronunciation Key, -gus·es.
1.a stone coffin, esp. one bearing sculpture, inscriptions, etc., often displayed as a monument.
2.Greek Antiquity. a kind of stone thought to consume the flesh of corpses, used for coffins.

[Origin: 1595–1605; < L < Gk sarkophágos, n. use of the adj.; see sarcophagous]
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
sar·coph·a·gus       (sär-kŏf'ə-gəs)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. sar·coph·a·gi (-jī') or sar·coph·a·gus·es
A stone coffin, often inscribed or decorated with sculpture.


[Latin, from Greek sarkophagos, coffin, from (lithos) sarkophagos, limestone that consumed the flesh of corpses laid in it : sarx, sark-, flesh + -phagos, -phagous.]

Word History: Sarcophagus, our term for a stone coffin located above ground and often decorated, has a macabre origin befitting a macabre thing. The word comes to us from Latin and Greek, having been derived in Greek from sarx, "flesh," and phagein, "to eat." The Greek word sarkophagos meant "eating flesh," and in the phrase lithos ("stone") sarkophagos it denoted a limestone that was thought to decompose the flesh of corpses placed in it. Used by itself as a noun the Greek term came to mean "coffin." The term was carried over into Latin, where sarcophagus was used in the phrase lapis ("stone") sarcophagus, referring to the same stone as in Greek. Sarcophagus used as a noun in Latin meant "coffin of any material." This Latin word was borrowed into English, first being recorded in 1601 with reference to the flesh-consuming stone and then in 1705 with reference to a stone coffin.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
sarcophagus 
"stone coffin," 1601, from L. sarcophagus, from Gk. sarkophagos "limestone used for coffins," lit. "flesh-eating," in reference to the supposed action of this type of limestone (quarried near Assos in Troas) in quickly decomposing the body, from sarx (gen. sarkos) "flesh" (see sarcasm) + phagein "to eat" (see -phagous). The stone sense was the earliest in Eng,; meaning "stone coffin, often with inscriptions or decorative carvings" is recorded from 1705. The L. word, shortened in V.L. to *sarcus, is the source of Fr. cercueil, Ger. Sarg "coffin," Du. zerk "tombstone."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
sarcophagus

noun
a stone coffin (usually bearing sculpture or inscriptions) 

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Sarcophagus

Sar*coph"a*ga\, n. pl. [NL., neut. pl. See Sarcophagus.] (Zo["o]l.) A suborder of carnivorous and insectivorous marsupials including the dasyures and the opossums.

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