necropolis
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: archaeology
history
human-sciences
sciences
Etymology: Borrowed from Koine Greek νεκρόπολις (nekrópolis, “city of the dead, cemetery”) (used to describe part of the city of Alexandria, Egypt), from Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- (“to disappear; to perish”)) + πόλις (pólis, “city”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tpelH- (“city; fortification”)). The English word is analysable as necro- + -polis, and is cognate with French nécropole, German Nekropolis, Late Latin necropolis.
The plural form necropoleis is derived from Ancient Greek νεκροπόλεις (nekropóleis).
Base: necro
Inflected forms:
form: necropolises
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: necropoleis
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: necropoles
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: necropoli
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: nekropolis
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A cemetery; especially a large one in or near a city.
pos: noun
tags: also
figuratively
historical
examples: In Turkey, the tombs, according to the custom of the ancients, are always without the towns; and as each tomb has uſually a large ſtone, and ſome maſonry, they conſtitute what may almoſt be called a ſecond town, which may be named, as formerly at Alexandria, Necropolis, or the city of the dead.
It was a lovely morning, as I said, and the Turks, who are early risers, were sitting on the graves of their kindred with their veiled wives and children, the marble turbans in that thickly-sown nekropolis less numerous than those of the living, who had come, not to mourn the dead who lay beneath, but to pass a day of idleness and pleasure on the spot endeared by their memories.
[I]t [Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris] is an overcrowded, shabby, dusty, and ill-kept cemetery: Kensall Green, though incipient, is far more picturesque; and several American necropoleis beat it hollow.
The great main street, which ran from the eastern extremity of the city [of Alexandria, Egypt] to the Necropolis at the western end, a distance of thirty stadia, was thronged already with eager citizens, mostly arrayed in holiday costume, and with an expression of expectation on their animated countenances.
READ, WILLIAM DAVID, [...] Sol-fa teacher, lecturer, and vocal composer. [...] He is interred in the Glasgow Necropolis, where a handsome monument has been erected to his memory by his friends and pupils.
Even at Adam Smith's death Glasgow was a city of less than 50,000, less, that is, than the Kirkcaldy of 1951. [...] The pattern of the old city was simple; let us follow it out. [...] Across the ravine is the necropolis, a mountain of gravestones, with a monument of [John] Knox in the centre.
Queens's Calvary Cemetery was even bigger and busier than Green-Wood. Soon after the Catholic necropolis opened its gates in 1848, one account tallied "fifty burials a day, half of them poor Irish under seven years of age."
gloss: An ancient site used for burying the dead, particularly if consisting of elaborate grave monuments.
pos: noun
examples: These labours upon Phœnician necropoli are of great importance. [...] M. [Louis Félicien] de Saulcy, one of the first travellers who has thrown light upon these necropoli, devoted himself to a very interesting examination of the tombs of the kings, of the prophets and judges, and upon the immense necropolis that surrounds Jerusalem, like a funeral enceinte.
The ancient Greeks generally buried their dead in their nekropoleis or their gardens; often on the road leading to their towns, or before the gates. This pious feeling of affection and reverence for the dead, is a touching feature in the character of the modern Greeks.
What shall I say of these immense Necropoleis, or Cities of the Dead, where the same care and labour were employed to embellish death, as other nations have bestowed on the adornment of life? Such an architecture could have sprung up only among a people filled with the idea of immortality, and in whose eyes earthly existence was but a fleeting passage to a future life.
The monuments of Egypt are religious, as the temples; sepulchral, as the necropoles; or triumphal, as the obelisks. [...] The most splendid necropoles of Egypt are those of Memphis and Thebes, and to the necropolis of the former the pyramids of El-Geezeh, near Cairo, are especially related.
Are we not overawed by those immense temples [in Egypt], those prodigious palaces, those grottos hewn in the living rock, those endless necropolises, and those indestructible colossi?
What would be the result if one attempted to determine the physical character of that people from a study of the remains in their necropoli?
"How did you happen to discover it?" he inquired as they emerged from the end of the avenue under a massive gateway carved by the cemetery's developers to resemble some regal necropolis of the Pharaohs.
The great cemeteries or necropolises (literally, "cities of the dead") adjacent to the major Etruscan cities such as Cerveteri and Tarquinia are the most visible relics of this civilization.
Separate fractions of dentine and enamel of 12 individuals from the necropolis of Sion (Valais, Switzerland) have been analyzed for Pb and Sr isotope compositions.
If the layer of the offerings is contemporary with the burials, then these are the earliest of the nekropolis, dating to the early third quarter of the seventh century.
gloss: A city or settlement where most people are dead and/or dying.
pos: noun
examples: You think London isn't a necropolis? Let me tell you it is. And people love it. Our cemeteries are popular tourist attractions.
Jerusalem was a necropolis where old or sick pilgrims were content to die and be buried until the Resurrection.
"A week from now, it will be completely unrecognizable," the chairman said. "It will have become a necropolis. I'm sure you will understand what that means, a man of your learning.” “A city of the dead.” “Exactly. The entire population has begun to die. […]"
But bury them they did, a weary train of funerals held within the palisade, lest the Indians see the thinning of their ranks. James Fort became a necropolis.
Ambazonia will become a necropolis comparable to certain other states in the region.
Derived words: necropolitan
necropolitic
Translations: