Language of the Dead
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We have been burying our dead since even before we were official human† but specific burial rites have also varied greatly; from keep remain close to home, like the early native British who buried loved-ones in their living room, to the Romans who removed remains far out from the city gates. While we often use terms like Graveyard, Cemetery, and Burial Grounds interchangeably they do actually have distinct histories & meanings.
When Graves, Tombs, Crypts, Mausoleums🔍 etc. are on land specifically affiliated with a church it's called a GRAVEYARD, (commonly located on church grounds- literally a Church's yard filled with graves.) As consecrated ground (made holy/ sacred) there are religious rules regarding who can be buried in graveyards.
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A CEMETERY, on the other cold hand, is not attached to a church. It can be on public or private land, and many are quite large, as they are not limited by the size of a church plot.
The word dates to the 14th c. from Old French cimetiere, Latin coemeterium; free-standing, multi-roomed gravesites used by early Christians where bodies were buried in wall niches and under the floor. Derived in turn from the Ancient Greek koimeterion = a sleeping place or dormitory. (Sleep & Death having been equated since the dawn of consciousness.) Eventually the Christian term came to be associated with any place set aside for the burial of the dead.
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Ancient, large scale cemeteries (built outside a cities gates) with elaborate tombs & monuments are often called NECROPOLIS' from Greek nekropolis = city of the dead [nekros = corpse (PIE🔍 root *nek- = death) + polis=city🔍 ] which referred to a burial place near Alexandria.
(Different from grave-field, which is also a site for graves outside a cities wall, but without above ground grave markers)
FAMOUS NECROPOLIS' in Egypt, Persia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Israel, Germany, Bulgaria & Glasgow | Scotland (Modern)
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Long subterranean tunnel systems called CATACOMBS , with sepulcher vault pockets carved into their walls, also used to be dug to house the dead. The name derived from Latin catacumba which may have originally indicated a specific burial cave site, ad Catacumbas, outside Rome, from Latin cata tumbas = at the graves [cata=among + tumba(s)= tomb.] Some of these are elaborately decorated with human bone mosaics.
FAMOUS CATACOMBS in Italy, France, Austria, Czech Republic, Malta, Peru, Spain, Greece, Finland & England
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