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sarcophagus

- 4 dictionary results

–noun,plural-gi

[-jahy]

, -gus·es.

a stone coffin, esp. one bearing sculpture, inscriptions, etc., often displayed as a monument.

Greek Antiquity. a kind of stone thought to consume the flesh of corpses, used for coffins.

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Origin:
1595–1605; < L < Gk sarkophágos, n. use of the adj.; see sarcophagous

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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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
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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 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."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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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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