TAFOS and MNEMEION

Ben Crick ben.crick at argonet.co.uk
Sun Apr 4 01:25:07 EST 1999


On Fri  2 Apr 99 (05:25:37), egorham at ackerley.com wrote:
> TAFOS is basically a hole in the ground in which a corpse is placed,
> while MNEMEION is a monument, a memorial ("you build memorials to the
> prophets" - Lk. 11:47). In Mk. 5:2, the demoniac is not living in a
> hole in the ground but in a MNEMEION, a burial cave or tomb constructed
> above ground.

 I'm guessing too: but I always thought of a TAFOS as a tombstone, upon
 which is engraved the Epitaph (EPI TAFWi) or name and CV of the deceased
 buried thereunder or within. Hebrew /QeBeR/; German /Grab/ or /Grabstein/?

 A MNHMEION by contrast IMHO is a KENOS TAFOS (Cenotaph) or empty memorial
 to a deceased person, whose body or ashes is/are interred elsewhere.
 Hebrew /ZeKeR/; German /Denkmal/?  I suspect that MNHMEION got used
 for the grave proper by Metonymy or Synechdoche, or just by association.
 So we can no longer draw a rigid distinction.

 My 2 cents.

 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick at argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
 http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm






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