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Language of the Dead

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  We often use terms like Grave, Crypt, and Tomb e.g.. interchangeably for various kinds of burials, but they do actually have distinct histories & meanings.

A GRAVE, [from proto-Germanic graban = to dig,] is an underground resting site for a dead body. Generally just a hole in the ground that holds the body, often housed in COFFINS or CASKETS. (The essential difference between the two being the shape; Caskets are rectangular, Coffins widen at the head - like Dracula's coffin.)

Graves can hold a single corpse, a couple, a family, or even a mass group of bodies. 

TOMB,  [ from Greek tumbos/ tymbos = burial mound / grave, possibly related to PIE 🔍 root teue- = to swell

SEPULCHER [from Latin sepulcrum= from root sepelire = to bury, embalm, originally = to perform rituals on a corpse, PIE sepel-io- = to honor]

are both more universal, they refer to any repository/ chamber meant to house dead bodies, and can be either above or below-ground.

Many above ground sites have grave-markers; plaques, Gravestones, Tombstones or Headstones† (literally above the head of buried body) to witness for the deceased. The Jewish tradition also leaves small unmarked stones on graves and some cemeteries have a similar tradition of coins being left (in addition to the now common flower & wreath memorials.)

Long subterranean tunnel systems called CATACOMBS , with sepulcher vault pockets carved into their walls, used to be dug to house the dead. Derived from Latin catacumba which may have originally indicated a specific burial cave site, ad Catacumbas, outside Rome. Some are elaborately decorated with human bone mosaics.

A CRYPT, from Greek krypte = hidden vault, is a smaller, stand alone below-ground chamber, usually built from stone. The room size varies depending on how many bodies it holds and how elaborate the burial rites are.

A MAUSOLEUM is similar, but above ground; also typically stone, it too can include multiple bodies added over time, like a family plot. They are named for the grand 4th century BC tomb of King Mausolos of Caria (present day Turkey) and like their namesake they can be very ornate.




 † There's actually a national corps of "Graveyard Rabbits" - who document & restore headstones, and study genealogy and burial customs. (Their name comes from the eponymous🔍 nineteenth-century poem by Frank Lebby Stanton.)
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