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Graveyard Rabbit of South Alameda County by Cheryl Palmer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

Monday, March 1, 2010

How Would You Define Cemetery, Graveyard, Coffin, Casket and Sarcophagus?

I was playing on the Web today and thought I would see how few words are defined online. 
I thought some of these were interesting so I am sharing them with you.

What's the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard?  

(The word, “graveyard,” was not recorded until the early 19th century.)

 Answer:  A  graveyard  is  always  adjacent  to  and  part  of  a  church.
 Answer: Graveyards are in the "yards" of churches.

Do you know the difference between a coffin, a casket and a sarcophagus? 
 Answer: 
It's the shape! A coffin is wider at the shoulders, narrower at the head and feet. 
 
Answer: A coffin is rectangular and a sarcophagus is more molded into the shape of 
 the human body and often had a portrait of the deceased painted on the lid.

Answer: In contemporary practice, coffins have six sides while caskets have four


Answer:
Casket

1 : a small chest or box (as for jewels)

2 : a usually fancy coffin

Answer:
A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. The word comes from Greek "sarx" meaning "flesh", and "phagein" meaning "to eat", so sarcophagus means "eater of flesh"...
Sarcophagi were usually made by being carved, decorated or built ornately. Some were built to be freestanding above ground, as a part of an elaborate tomb ortombs. Others were made for burial, or were placed in crypts. In Ancient Egypt, a sarcophagus was usually the external layer of protection for a royal mummy, with several layers of coffins nested within.

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