Etymology
From the Latin verb cadō (“I fall”), as a euphemism for dying, "the fallen one". This etymology is found as early as ca. 200 C.E. in the writings of Tertullian, who associated cadaver to cadendo:
c. 160 CE – c. 225 CE,
Tertullian,
De Resurrectione Carnis 18:
- Atque adeo caro est quae morte subruitur, ut exinde a cadendo cadaver enuntietur.
- Indeed, the flesh is that which is subsumed by death, and may thereafter be termed "cadaver."
A folk etymology derives cadaver syllabically from the Latin expression caro data vermibus (flesh given to worms). This etymology, more popular in Romance countries, can be traced back as early as the Schoolmen of the Middle Ages.
Noun
cadāver n (genitive cadāveris); third declension
- corpse, cadaver, carcass
- Synonyms: corpus, fūnus, mors, caedēs
Declension
Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).
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References
- “cadaver”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “cadaver”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- cadaver in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “cadaver”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “cadaver”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
- Tertullian. On the Resurrection of the Flesh. Chapter 18.
Quote: “So that it is the flesh which falls by death; and accordingly it derives its name, cadaver, from cadendo.”