Mysteries of vernacular: Sarcophagus,
通用俗语的谜团：Sarcophagus，
a stone coffin typically adorned with decorative carvings or inscriptions.
一座石质棺材，通常带有雕刻和铭文做装饰。
The history of the word sarcophagus is so skin-crawlingly grotesque,
“Sarcophagus”一词的历史是如此令人毛骨悚然，
it seems to come right out of a low-budget horror film.
以至于它好像是出自低成本恐怖电影中的一样。
Rather than having a B-movie origin, however,
不过它并不是出自B级电影，
its roots can be traced back to the early Roman Empire
它的源头可以追溯到罗马帝国早期，
where the Greek word sarkophagus was used to describe the limestone that a coffin was made of, not the coffin itself.
当时希腊语单词sarkophagus用来描述制作棺材的石灰岩，而不是棺材本身。

According to the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder,
据罗马学者老普林尼表示，
citizens of the Empire believed that limestone from a quarry near Troy would dissolve flesh.
帝国的公民相信特洛伊附近采石场出产的石灰岩能分解肉体。
For this reason, it was quite desireable in the construction of coffins.
正因如此，该材质很适合用来制作棺材。
Though it's unclear if the belief was widespread or even accurately reported by Pliny,
尽管这一说法是否普遍，以及普林尼的记载是否准确并不清楚，
what is certain is that sarkophagus came from the Greek words sark, meaning flesh, and phagein, a verb meaning to eat.
但可以确定的是，sarkophagus来自希腊语sark，意思是肉体，和“phagein”，一个意思是吃的动词。
From flesh-eating stone to stone coffin, it's a fitting etymology for the final resting place of the deceased.
从吃肉的岩石到石质棺材，这个语源倒是与逝者的最后安息之地相符。