sarcophagus

English

A sarcophagus (coffin).

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French sarcophage, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin sarcophagus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos, “coffin of limestone”, noun), so named from a supposed property of consuming the flesh of corpses laid in it, from σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos, “flesh-eating, carnivorous”), from genitive σαρκός (sarkós) of σάρξ (sárx, “flesh, meat”) + -φάγος (-phágos) (from ἔφαγον (éphagon), past of φάγω (phágō, “eat”))

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑː(ɹ)ˈkɒfəɡəs/

Noun

sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses)

1. A stone coffin, often inscribed or decorated with sculpture.
2. (informal) The cement and steel structure that encases the destroyed reactor at the power station in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
3. (historical) A kind of limestone used by the Greeks for coffins, so called because it was thought to consume the flesh of corpses.
4. (historical) An 18th-century form of wine cooler.

Related terms

• sarcophagy
• autosarcophagy

Translations

coffin

• Arabic: نَاوُوس m (nāwūs)
• Armenian: սարկոֆագ (hy) (sarkofag)
• Azerbaijani: sarkofaq
• Belarusian: саркафа́г m (sarkafáh)
• Bulgarian: саркофа́г (bg) m (sarkofág)
• Catalan: sarcòfag m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 石棺 (zh) (shíguān)

• Czech: sarkofág (cs) m
• Danish: sarkofag (da)
• Dutch: sarcofaag (nl) m
• Egyptian: (nb-ꜥnḫ m)
• Erzya: кевгандолаз (kevgandolaz)
• Esperanto: sarkofago
• Finnish: sarkofagi (fi)
• French: sarcophage (fr)
• Georgian: სარკოფაგი (sarḳopagi)
• German: Sarkophag (de) m
• Greek: σαρκοφάγος (el) f (sarkofágos)
• Hebrew: סַרְקוֹפָג (he) (sarqofág)
• Hungarian: szarkofág (hu)
• Ido: sarkofago (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: sarcofago (it) m
• Japanese: 石棺 (せっかん, sekkan), サルコファガス (sarukofagasu)
• Korean: 석관 (ko) (seokgwan), 사르코파구스 (sareukopaguseu)
• Macedonian: саркофаг m (sarkofag)
• Persian: تابوت‌دان (fa) (tâbut-dân)
• Phoenician: 𐤀𐤓𐤍 (ʾrn)
• Polish: sarkofag (pl) m
• Portuguese: sarcófago (pt) m
• Romanian: sarcofag (ro)
• Russian: саркофа́г (ru) m (sarkofág)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: саркофаг m

  Roman: sarkofag (sh) m

• Slovak: sarkofág (sk) m
• Slovene: sarkofag (sl) m
• Spanish: sarcófago (es) m
• Swedish: sarkofag (sv) c
• Tagalog: sarkopago
• Thai: โลงหิน (loong-hǐn)
• Turkish: lahit (tr)
• Ukrainian: саркофа́г m (sarkofáh)
• Vietnamese: quách (vi)
• Walloon: sårcô (wa) m

steel structure

• Belarusian: саркафа́г m (sarkafáh)
• Bulgarian: саркофа́г (bg) m (sarkofág)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 石棺 (zh) (shíguān)

• Finnish: sarkofagi (fi)
• Greek: σαρκοφάγος (el) f (sarkofágos)
• Hungarian: szarkofág (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 石棺 (せっかん, sekkan)
• Korean: 석관 (ko) (seokgwan)
• Polish: sarkofag (pl) m
• Portuguese: sarcófago (pt) m
• Russian: саркофа́г (ru) m (sarkofág)
• Ukrainian: саркофа́г m (sarkofáh)

Further reading

• “sarcophagus”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sarcophagus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• sarcophagus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos, “coffin of limestone”), σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos, “flesh-eating, carnivorous”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /sarˈko.pʰa.ɡus/, [s̠ärˈkɔpʰäɡʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sarˈko.fa.ɡus/, [särˈkɔːfäɡus]

Noun

sarcophagus f (genitive sarcophagī); second declension

1. a grave, sepulchre

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sarcophagus	sarcophagī
Genitive	sarcophagī	sarcophagōrum
Dative	sarcophagō	sarcophagīs
Accusative	sarcophagum	sarcophagōs
Ablative	sarcophagō	sarcophagīs
Vocative	sarcophage	sarcophagī

Descendants

• English: sarcophagus
• French: cercueil (inherited), sarcophage (borrowed)

Adjective

sarcophagus (feminine sarcophaga, neuter sarcophagum); first/second-declension adjective

1. flesh-devouring, carnivorous
2. a kind of limestone used for coffins

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	sarcophagus	sarcophaga	sarcophagum		sarcophagī	sarcophagae	sarcophaga
Genitive	sarcophagī	sarcophagae	sarcophagī		sarcophagōrum	sarcophagārum	sarcophagōrum
Dative	sarcophagō		sarcophagō		sarcophagīs
Accusative	sarcophagum	sarcophagam	sarcophagum		sarcophagōs	sarcophagās	sarcophaga
Ablative	sarcophagō	sarcophagā	sarcophagō		sarcophagīs
Vocative	sarcophage	sarcophaga	sarcophagum		sarcophagī	sarcophagae	sarcophaga

References

• “sarcophagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sarcophagus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sarcophagus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• sarcophagus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.