Mysteries of vernacular: Sarcophagus - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/mysteries-of-vernacular-sarcophagus-jessica-oreck-and-rachael-teel

Dating back to the early Roman Empire, the word sarcophagus originally referred to the limestone a coffin was made of, rather than the coffin itself. From flesh-eating stone to a stone coffin, Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel unbury the sarcophagus.

Lesson by Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel, animation by Jessica Oreck.

Mysteries of vernacular:

Sarcophagus,

a stone coffin typically adorned

with decorative carvings or inscriptions.

The history of the word sarcophagus

is so skin-crawlingly grotesque,

it seems to come right out

of a low-budget horror film.

Rather than having a B-movie origin, however,

its roots can be traced back to the early Roman Empire

where the Greek word sarkophagus

was used to describe the limestone

that a coffin was made of,

not the coffin itself.

According to the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder,

citizens of the Empire believed

that limestone from a quarry near Troy

would dissolve flesh.

For this reason, it was quite desireable

in the construction of coffins.

Though it's unclear if the belief was widespread

or even accurately reported by Pliny,

what is certain is that sarkophagus

came from the Greek words sark,

meaning flesh,

and phagein,

a verb meaning to eat.

From flesh-eating stone

to stone coffin,

it's a fitting etymology

for the final resting place of the deceased.