Epitaph & cenotaph

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The Greek word τάφος (taphos), meaning ‘grave’ or ‘tomb’, is the root of the English words ‘epitaph’ and ‘cenotaph’.

EPITAPH

The first part of the word epitaph comes from the Greek preposition ἐπί (epi, ‘on’). An epitaph, in the primary or basic sense of the word, is an inscription on a gravestone or similar monument commemorating the dead person who is buried there. Epitaphs in the United Kingdom vary greatly in length and in the information they convey about the dead person. Typically they also contain some expression of affection for him or her, sometimes simply the formula ‘In loving memory’. The briefest epitaph known to AWE is that of the poet Philip Larkin, who was Hull University’s Librarian (1955-1985) and is buried in Cottingham Cemetery in the East Riding of Yorkshire: it runs PHILIP LARKIN/1922-1985/WRITER). At the opposite extreme the epitaphs of some eminent figures of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries may have a dozen lines or more, be written in Latin, and give a detailed account of the dead person’s virtues and achievements.

Three secondary uses of the word epitaph may be distinguished: all retain from the primary use the thought of an epitaph as commemorative of a dead person, but differ from it in ascribing this commemorative function not to an inscription on a gravestone but to something else, such as.

  • a speech delivered (or written material composed) in commemoration of a dead person or persons. For example, the speech given in 430 BCE by the Athenian statesman Pericles (495-429 BCE) at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) in honour of the Athenian soldiers killed in the preceding year is often described as an epitaph on the Athenian dead (see Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War II, 35-46).
  • a single brief sentence (rather than a speech or longer passage) which somehow encapsulates or succeeds in conveying the essence of the dead person’s character, life and/or achievements. For example, the sentence ‘This was the noblest Roman of them all’ which opens Mark Antony’s final speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (Act V, scene v, line 68) might be regarded as Mark Antony’s epitaph on Brutus. Quite differently, when the historian Tacitus (c55-c120 CE) comments scathingly on the brief reign of the Roman emperor Galba (reigned 68-69 CE) "All would have agreed that he was capable of holding office, if he had never held it" (omnium consensu capax imperii nisi imperasset), this could be said to be his epitaph on the emperor..
  • an achievement or the like for which the dead person will always be remembered. For example, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, designed by the architect Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723), is sometimes spoken of as Wren’s epitaph - a thought suggested by the inscription on Wren’s tomb in the cathedral’s crypt, directly under the centre of the dome: Si monumentum requiris, circumspice (‘If you seek his memorial, look around you’).

There is a related adjective, epitaphic, while a person who composes epitaphs is an epitaphist. Both words, unlike epitaph itself, are rare.


CENOTAPH

A cenotaph – the first part of the word is from the Greek adjective κενός (kenos, ‘empty’) – is a monument commemorating a dead person or persons who are buried elsewhere. The word is pronounced with the initial ‘c’ soft and the stress on the first syllable, IPA: /'sɛ nə tɑːf /. There is a related adjective, cenotaphic.

The Cenotaph - always with the definite article and an initial capital - is the monument on Whitehall in London, which commemorates those who lost their lives in both World Wars and in subsequent conflicts. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) and erected in 1920 to honour the dead of the First World War. In 1945, after the end of the Second World War, it also became a memorial to those who had lost their lives in that conflict. The Cenotaph is the site of the annual Service of Remembrance held on Remembrance Sunday, i.e., the Sunday closest to 11th November, the day of the Armistice which brought the First World War to an end.


Two postscripts

1. Tάφος (taphos) is also the root of another, much less common English word, taphonomy (pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, IPA: / tə 'fɒ nə mɪ/), the name for the scientific study of the processes which may affect an organism after death and lead to its fossilisation. The second part of the word comes from νόμος (nomos, law). There are related adjectives taphonomic and taphonomical.

2. The word taphephobia – note that the fifth letter is ‘e’ not ‘o’ – has as its root not τάφος (taphos, grave) but ταφή (taphē), which means ‘burial’. Taphephobia - pronounced with the stress on the third syllable IPA: /tæ fɪ 'fəʊ bɪə/ - is the medical term for a pathological fear of being buried alive. The second part of the word comes from φόβος (phobos, fear). A person who suffers from this condition may be said to be taphephobic.