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sarcophagus

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sar·coph·a·gus

   [sahr-kof-uh-guhs]
noun, plural -gi  [-jahy] , -gus·es.
1.
a stone coffin, especially 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; < Latin < Greek sarkophágos, noun use of the adj.; see sarcophagous
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Sarcophagus is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
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Example Sentences
  • The plan is to eventually dismantle the sarcophagus and the exploded reactor inside the new shelter.
  • One thing the paintings don't reveal is who lurks inside the sarcophagus.
  • But it's a near-perfect re-creation, down to the paint on his sarcophagus.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
sarcophagus (sɑːˈkɒfəɡəs)
 
—n , pl -gi, -guses
a stone or marble coffin or tomb, esp one bearing sculpture or inscriptions
 
[C17: via Latin from Greek sarkophagos flesh-devouring; from the type of stone used, which was believed to destroy the flesh of corpses]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

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
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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."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

sarcophagus

stone coffin. The original term is of doubtful meaning; Pliny explains that the word denotes a coffin of limestone from the Troad (the region around Troy) which had the property of dissolving the body quickly (Greek sarx, "flesh"; phagein, "to eat"). This explanation is questionable; religious and folkloristic ideas may have been involved in calling a coffin a body eater. The word came into general use as the name for a large coffin in imperial Rome and is now used as an archaeological term

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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