Page 1 of 1

Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2014 10:42 pm
by Dr. Goodword

• necropolis •

Pronunciation: nê-krah-pê-lês • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. A large cemetery in or near a city. 2. An ancient or prehistoric burial ground, especially one with large, elaborate tombs.

Notes: The common English words for a burial ground are graveyard or cemetery. An especially large or ancient cemetery is a necropolis. The meaning of the adjective accompanying this word, necropolitan, has expanded from "concerning necropolises" to "mournful, funereal". We find many words in English containing the first constituent of this Greek compound: necropsy "autopsy of an animal", necrophilia "love for dead things", necrosis "death of tissue", necrolatry "worship of the dead".

In Play: The contemporary sense of today's Good Word generally refers to a special cemetery of some sort, either large or otherwise important: "Bernard wasn't buried in a cemetery, but in a necropolis near Los Angeles filled with the bodies of the rich and famous." However, this word is most often used in reference to a very old, usually abandoned cemetery: "Mary Chase finally discovered Aztec gold in an unexplored necropolis in Mexico."

Word History: Today's word was a Greek compound made out of nekros "dead" + polis "city", in other words, "city of the dead". Greek inherited the root of nekros from Proto-Indo-European nek- "dead, death", which appears in several borrowed English words. Innocuous and innocent, negatives of nocuous and nocent, both meaning "harmful". An unlikely word coming across the millennia to English is nectar from Greek nektar "drink of the gods". The Greek word was made up of PIE words nek- "death" + ter- "to overcome", since the drink of gods could help the drinker overcome death. (Let's all raise a glass of nectar to Jackie Strauss, wishing her a long life in which to continue sending us excellent Good Words like today's.)

Re: Nekropolis

Posted: Fri Aug 01, 2014 12:37 pm
by LukeJavan8
Underneath St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is an interesting
place. We have one near here fenced in inside a state park.

Re: Nekropolis

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 12:00 am
by Perry Lassiter
I read a lot of archaelogy, and the word comes up often in reports of their digs.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2014 12:08 pm
by LukeJavan8
Agreed, I receive an archaeology mag and
it comes up very, very often.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 2:38 am
by bnjtokyo
"Mary Chase finally discovered Aztec gold in an unexplored necropolis in Yucatan."

That would be a good trick: The Aztec Empire did not include the Yucatan and the Mayan cultures that flourished in the Yucatan predated the Aztec culture in the central Mexican highlands.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 2:18 pm
by saparris
Probably wasn't even real gold.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:35 pm
by LukeJavan8
I wonder if the Conquistadores cared or even knew.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 10:49 am
by George Kovac
In Queens, on the drive from LaGuardia into the city, you pass miles of cemeteries, unique in the American landscape. It always fascinated me, the density of the grave sites, the diversity of monuments, the centuries of New Yorkers eternally arranged in grids not unlike the crowded neighborhoods of the living. Dozens of cemeteries side by side, but each containing family groups organized by religion or ethnicity. I never lived in New York, but I know that my immigrant grandparents and other relatives are earthed in one of those cemeteries. Two weeks ago I visited another of those cemeteries to bury a relative on my wife's side of the family. The continuities and juxtaposition of the city of the passed and the city of the living are, to me, strangely comforting. "Necropolis" is the word that often occurs to me--cemetery seems too limiting for this strange, amazing and deeply human landscape.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:28 am
by LukeJavan8
It must be quite a sight. I've never heard that before, and
one does not see it in TV or movies.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:10 pm
by misterdoe
In Queens, on the drive from LaGuardia into the city, you pass miles of cemeteries, unique in the American landscape. It always fascinated me...
I've often wondered about the placement of all those cemeteries right along the Brooklyn/Queens border. Makes me wonder if at some point they were intended to be a buffer zone of sorts between the two boroughs/counties. :?

I'm guessing the national cemeteries such as Arlington or Calverton (NY) would also qualify.

Re: Necropolis

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:20 pm
by Perry Lassiter
Then there are the fabled necropolises of New Orleans. There we bury above ground, since the city is below sea level. Dangerous at night and sometimes dpooky by day, you can easily find those mausuleums of varying sized through a search engine.