sarcophagus Latin · revision 4364

15 Oct 2026, 22:52 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Pliny the Elder|origins=grc σαρκοφάγος}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [sarˈkɔ.pʰa.ɡʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [sarˈkɔː.fa.ɡus]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''sarcophagus''' ''m'' (genitive sarcophagī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|σαρκοφάγος|tr=sarkophágos|t=flesh-eating]],^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Wiktionary) from [[m|grc|σάρξ|tr=sárx|t=flesh]] and [[m|grc|φαγεῖν|tr=phageîn|t=to eat]].^(Isidore)^(Etymonline) The name was given to a limestone believed to consume corpses.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Pliny the Elder says a stone found near Assos in the Troad consumes bodies and is called ''sarcophagus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Köbler dates him 23/24–79 AD.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ As an adjective in ''lapis sarcophagus'' it was a caustic stone, probably limestone, used for coffins, and Georges says bodies were consumed in it within forty days.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) An inscription uses it of an eye ointment.^(OLD 2012) As a noun it was any coffin, as in Juvenal, where a coffin will satisfy Alexander, and in the Digest.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Isidore of Seville repeats that bodies laid in the stone vanish within forty days.^(Isidore)
+ 
+ In medieval Latin it was a coffin and a reliquary.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) English ''sarcophagus'' is recorded around 1600 for the stone.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the flesh-eating stone.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of Alexander's coffin.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name.^(Isidore)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 1600 – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|sarcophagus]].^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Flesh-eating, ''lapis sarcophagus'' a caustic stone used for coffins.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ 
+ ===Noun===
+ # A coffin, [[m|en|sarcophagus]].^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A reliquary.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|sarcophagus]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}