Hau Yet another Mayan death god.
Cur Force which brings fear, sadness and death in Tamil belief.
Cyhiraeth Celtic goddess of streams who's scream foretold death.
Dahaka Persian god of death and deceit.
danse macabre Also known as Totentanz (Germany), danza de la muerte (Spain), Makkabeusdans (Netherlands). Similar to memento mori, it was art that showed the levelling power of death.
Day of the Dead A holiday celebrating the dead in Mexico.
dead No longer living.
deanimate Die. Counteracted by post-cryonic reanimation.
descansos Roadside crosses, as those erected when there is a car accident.
death The cessation of life. What exactly that is is subject to debate.
death angel A poisonous white mushroom, also called death cup.
death benefit Money paid by life insurance.
death camas Grasslike plant poisonous to livestock.
death care industry Name used by the funeral industry for itself.
death certificate A document proclaiming the death of an individual and the conditions of the departure.
death cults Groups venerating the dead in their mythology, a sort of necrolatry where they believe they gain powers from or must appease those who have passed on.
death duty Tax on inherited property, called also inheritance tax, estate tax or death tax.
death instinct An impulse suggested by Freud that opposes that towards life - an inclination to destruction and decay, also called Thanatos. Similar to a death wish.
death knell Something announcing death, as of the church bells of yore.
death mask Cast made of face after death, used in ancient Rome by actors to play the dead and by Europeans to adorn the buried corpse. Madame Tussaud of Wax Museum fame started out making death masks of those killed by the guillotine during the French Revolution.
death notice Paid announcement of death.
death penalty Another name for capital punishment
death point Level of an environmental factor beyond which a species can no longer survive.
death qualify A legal term for excusing those opposed to the death penalty from serving on a jury.
death rate Number of deaths in a population over a period of time, usually per thousand per year. Also called a fatality rate.
death rattle Noise made by dying person as breath passes through mucus when the cough reflex is lost.
death row The place where condemned criminals await their execution. Also called death house.
death seat The seat opposite the driver of a car because it is the most dangerous. An Australian term - in the United States the seat is called shotgun - a reference to stagecoach days.
death toll The cost in lives of a given event, from disease outbreak to military campaign.
Death Valley The point of lowest elevation in the Western Hemishere - located in northern California.
death warrant Document authorizing execution. Also a destructive incident - deathblow.
death's head The human skull, a symbol of death.
decapitate Remove the head of. Behead.
decedent Dead person.
decomposition The breakdown of the body after death.
defenestrate To throw out a window.
Demeter and Persephone Persephone was carried to the underworld by Hades in Greek Myth, and though Demeter was able to get her out, Persephone's having eaten pomegranate bound her to return, thus leading to the seasons.
deceased Dead. Other synonyms suggest a journey or departure (passed away, passed on, no longer with us).
dental tie A way of keeping the mouth on a corpse closed.
dewar Chamber for storing cryogenically-preserved bodies.
die Stop living.
direct burial Burial without viewing or embalming, also called immediate burial.
dirge Mournful musical composition, poem, or other work.
Dis Another name for Hades.
disembowel To remove the entrails from. Also remove meaning.
Divine Comedy A monumental epic written by fourteenth century Italian poet Dante Aligheieri. The work had three sections, Paradisio, Purgatorio and Inferno, the last of which was classified into nine levels and served as a social commentary.
DNR An order to not resuscitate in the event of failure of breathing or heart. CPR will not be initiated.
doedkammers Parlors built by the Pennsylvania Dutch in the American colonies to have funerals, with doors large enough to accomodate the pallbearers.
dog soldiers Warrior among Indians in the American Plains who drove their lances (to which they were attached by rope) into the ground, determined to defend the pice of land they could reach to the death.
Donner Party Group trapped in the Sierra Nevada headed west in the winter of 1846. They resorted to cannibalism.
Dou-mu Goddess who records all lives and deaths in Chinese belief.
draw and quarter Execute by tying the four limbs of a person to horses and having them run in opposite directions, or mutilating a corpse after hanging.
Duat Name for the underworld in Egyptian mythology.
durable power of attorney for health care Document allowing others to make health care decisions when one is not able to. Also called health care power of attorney or health care directive
Egyptian Book of the Dead A set of 200 spells, written on papyrus by 1400 BC, that were prayers from the dead person for help on the trip to the next world.
electric chair First used in 1890 in New York, it took eight minutes to kill a person via electricity. Benjamin Franklin experimented with the process earlier to see how much electricitiy it took to kill a monkey.
elegy Poem mourning someone or something that has been lost.
Elysian Fields The ancient Greek version of heaven, full of grass and sunlight. The French translation, "Champs Élysées," became the name for the largest boulevard in Paris.
embalm To preserve to prevent decay, to protect, to perfume.
embalmer Person who embalms corpses.
embalmer's gray The gray that poor positioning causes from blood moving into the head in a corpse.
embalming powder Dry substance used to preserve surface.
embalmment An old method of preservation involving replacement of organs with chemicals and dehydration.
en bloc Latin for in a group. A way to remove a whole group of organs during an autopsy so that their relative positions can be preserved.
en situ Latin for in location. A way to look at organs still in the body during autopsy.
entomb To place in or serve as a tomb or grave.
epitaph An inscription on a tombstone or a short literary piece to remember a deceased person.
Ereshkigal Sumerian and Babylonian death goddess.
eschatology Branch of theology dealing with the end of man or the world. Belief concerning final things.
eulogy A speech of praise, usually given after someone has died.
euthanasia From the Greek for good death, it is the mercy killing of someone with terminal or incurable disease, a coup de grace.
excarnation The use of animals to dispose of human remains or to strip off flesh.
exhume To remove from a grave (disinter). Or to expose. The fist burial is called a primary burial, and the second is called secondary and in some cases may involve additional ritual.
fatal Causing death. Deadly. Lethal.
fatality Death.
Field of Reeds The Egyptian vision of the afterlife, a place requiring agricultural work, aided by ushabtis, figurines in the form of workers.
firing squad A method of execution where a person is faced with an array of people with guns who all shoot at once, utilized especially by militaries.
floaters Corpses in water that have developed sufficient gas in them to rise to the surface.
flower death The good death wished for by Aztecs in fighting.
forensic pathologist Pathologist who produces medical information for the legal profession. Something combining both professions is called medicolegal.
formaldehyde gray Gray color resulting from the preservative formaldehyde's interaction with blood's hemoglobin. Formaldehyde is present in embalming fluid.
formalin Tissue preservative used by pathologists, containing formaldehyde and water.
fratricide The killing of one's brother.
functional pricing Itemizing the bill for a funeral. Also called multi-unit pricing (as opposed to single-unit or tri-unit). Required by the U.S. Federal Trade Comission.
funeral Ceremony or procession held in conjunction with burial. Also an end, a eulogy, a sermon, a source of concern, or resembling a funeral.
funeral chapel A place for having funerals.
funeral director Person responsible for burial or cremation and often the embalming, as well as aiding in the funeral ceremony.
funeral home A place for dealing with dead bodies, viewing and funeral services.
funeral lighting Illumination of body in caskey.
funeral procession A parade with a corpse following a fuenral.
Gallu Akkadian demons of death.
Gamab The god of life and death to the Haukoin people in southern Africa.
gas chamber A method of execution where lethal gas is pumped into a chamber containing victims. When first used in response to the inadequacy of the electric chair in the United Staes, deaths took anywhere from 2 to 11 minutes. A mass form of this utilized Zyklon B during the Holocaust in purported showers.
Gehinnom The Jewish version of hell, metaphysical in nature, a remoteness from God. Derived from Ben Hinnom, the name for a valley where children were burned in fire to worship Moloch.
genocide Systematic extermination of nation, race, or political or ethnic group.
ghost The spirit of a dead person returning.
Ghusl Washing of the body in preparation for burial in Muslim religion.
gibbet A cage for corpses of criminals to be displayed until they rotted, as well as a gallows.
Giltine Lithuanian death goddess who strangles or chokes the sick.
gNyan Bringers of death and destruction in Tibetan Bon.
grave A place of burial, especially the excavation itself. Also death itself, to stamp, to clean and coat with tar, an adjective meaning serious, slow, somber.
grave liner See burial vault.
grave marker Something placed in remembrance of the dead at the grave.
grave robber Those who rob graves, either for the corpses to sell to science or for the goods a person may be buried with, as was the case with the Egyptian pyramids.
gravestone A stone placed on a grave to mark it, often bearing an inscription listing years of birth and death, name, and perhaps an epitaph.
grief From the same root as grave, aggravate, baritone. Mental anguish, annoyance, regret, trouble, grievance.
grief counselor A newly created position to help people through their pain following a death.
grief therapist Industry term for a mortician.
Grim Reaper image reproduced with permission of Duncan Long.
Grim Reaper A mythological figure representing death, a skeleton carrying a scythe with which he harvests lives.
guillotineAn implement of decapitation where a blade is raised on a series of tracks and then allowed to fall on a person's neck. Also a device for cutting paper or to cut with such a tool.
Guinee In voodoo, the place where the souls of the dead go. Also the abode of the gods.
Hades The god of the underworld, as well as the name of the underworld and hell, in Greek and Roman mythology.
Hafaza Guardian angels who protect deceased souls against satans after death.
hanging A method of execution where a hangman's noose is put around a persons neck and the person is raised from the ground, either via suspension from a tree or a drop away floor on a gibbet or gallows. To string up.
hara-kiri Ritual suicide under Bushido, the Japanese samurai code, that involves disembowelment of one's self. The abdomen was cut horizontally, a vertical thrust was made, and a friend provided decapitation.
hardening compound Stuff used to make tissues solid in a corpse by embalmers.
Haurvatat Hindu deity associated with perfection and life after death.
head freeze Putting strong embalming fluid at high pressure into the head and neck to preserve without swelling. Also called instant tissue fixation.
head rest Device used to keep head in place when embalming.
headstone A stone set at the head of a grave. Also the central wedge part of an arch in architecture that holds it together.
hearse A vehicle for the transportation of corpses from funeral to burial.
heart tap Putting embalming fluid right into the heart via injection.
heaven The place of residence for God, the angels, and admitted souls, a land of happiness. Also the sky, a state of bliss, God.
Heaven's Gate American cultists who committed suicide in 1997 on the belief that they would join a comet, under the leadership of Bo.
