σαρκοφάγος

Greek sarkophagos (σαρκοφάγος) combined sarx (σάρξ, 'flesh') and phagein (φαγεῖν, 'to eat'). Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century CE, explained that a particular limestone from Assos in the Troad (modern Turkey) was used for coffins because it consumed the bodies placed inside within forty days, bones and all. The stone ate the flesh. The coffin was named for its function.

Whether Pliny's claim about the limestone of Assos was accurate is debated. Some ancient sources confirm that certain stone types accelerated decomposition through alkaline properties. Others suggest the story was already a folk etymology by Pliny's time. What is not debated is the name: sarcophagus stuck, and every stone coffin in the Mediterranean world inherited the flesh-eating label.

Roman sarcophagi became objects of extraordinary artistry. By the second century CE, wealthy Romans commissioned carved marble sarcophagi decorated with mythological scenes, battle narratives, and portraits of the deceased. The flesh-eating stone became a canvas. The container that destroyed the body was decorated to preserve the person's image.

English borrowed sarcophagus in the seventeenth century. Today the word names any large stone coffin, particularly ancient ones. Museum visitors admire Egyptian and Roman sarcophagi without knowing they are looking at objects whose name means 'flesh-eater.' The horror of the etymology has been swallowed by the beauty of the artifacts — which is, perhaps, exactly what a sarcophagus does.