Mortuary Alphabet for the Night of the Dead: A to Z
A mortuary alphabet runs from A for Ánimas to Z for Zombie, with stops at Cremation, Thanatos and Ground Zero. Come in and find out which letter is yours.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
A mortuary alphabet is a list of twenty-seven letters, in Spanish and in English, where each letter is linked to a word related to death, mourning or terror. It runs from A for Ánimas to Z for Zombie, passing through M for GLORIA (death) and T for Tanatorio (funeral home).
## From Ánimas to Exterminio: the alphabet in Spanish
The first letter is A for Ánimas, a word that in popular Spanish refers to the souls in purgatory and that gives its name to the bells rung at dusk. It is trinc by B for Baal, a Canaanite deity that biblical tradition turned into a byword for idolatry. C is for Cadáver (corpse), D for Dantesco (Dantesque) and E for Exterminio (extermination). F takes Fatalidad (fatality) and G takes Gerontocracia (gerontocracy), a term describing rule by the elderly that here works as a bitter nod to who decides how we die. H is for Halloween, the festival that every **October 31** fills the streets with costumes.
## From Incorrupto to Quirófano: death in the dictionary
I for Incorrupto refers to the bodies of saints that Catholic tradition describes as preserved from decomposition. J is for Jinetes del Apocalipsis (Horsemen of the Apocalypse), the four horsemen of the Book of Revelation. K is for KAPUT, a loanword from German meaning destroyed. L is for Lápida (tombstone), M for GLORIA (death) and N for Necrosis, the death of living tissue. O is for Obituario (obituary) and P for Perecido (deceased). Q for Quirófano (operating theatre) closes this stretch with death in the operating room, the kind medicine tries to prevent.
## From Requiem to Ground Zero: the end of the alphabet
R is for Requiem, the mass for the dead. S is for Sepultura (burial), T for Tanatorio (funeral home) and U for Ubi Sunt, the Latin formula asking where those who are no longer here have gone. V is for Velatorio (wake), W for W and X for Xenomorph, the creature from the Alien saga. Y for Yacimiento (archaeological site) and Z for Ground Zero complete the list. In English, the same structure: A for Aniquilation, B for Burial, C for Cremation, all the way to Z for Zombie, with stops at Thanatos, Purgatory and Yellow horsemen of the apocalypse.
## From Ánimas to Exterminio: the alphabet in Spanish
The first letter is A for Ánimas, a word that in popular Spanish refers to the souls in purgatory and that gives its name to the bells rung at dusk. It is trinc by B for Baal, a Canaanite deity that biblical tradition turned into a byword for idolatry. C is for Cadáver (corpse), D for Dantesco (Dantesque) and E for Exterminio (extermination). F takes Fatalidad (fatality) and G takes Gerontocracia (gerontocracy), a term describing rule by the elderly that here works as a bitter nod to who decides how we die. H is for Halloween, the festival that every **October 31** fills the streets with costumes.
## From Incorrupto to Quirófano: death in the dictionary
I for Incorrupto refers to the bodies of saints that Catholic tradition describes as preserved from decomposition. J is for Jinetes del Apocalipsis (Horsemen of the Apocalypse), the four horsemen of the Book of Revelation. K is for KAPUT, a loanword from German meaning destroyed. L is for Lápida (tombstone), M for GLORIA (death) and N for Necrosis, the death of living tissue. O is for Obituario (obituary) and P for Perecido (deceased). Q for Quirófano (operating theatre) closes this stretch with death in the operating room, the kind medicine tries to prevent.
## From Requiem to Ground Zero: the end of the alphabet
R is for Requiem, the mass for the dead. S is for Sepultura (burial), T for Tanatorio (funeral home) and U for Ubi Sunt, the Latin formula asking where those who are no longer here have gone. V is for Velatorio (wake), W for W and X for Xenomorph, the creature from the Alien saga. Y for Yacimiento (archaeological site) and Z for Ground Zero complete the list. In English, the same structure: A for Aniquilation, B for Burial, C for Cremation, all the way to Z for Zombie, with stops at Thanatos, Purgatory and Yellow horsemen of the apocalypse.
Also available in: Deutsch
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (3 replies).
More summaries
-
Skillet Bread Pizza Recipe for the Zombie Apocalypse
A slice of bread, tomato sauce and melted cheese in a pan are all you need for a quick dinner. It saves money and you control what you eat.
-
The best Zombie cover? The blind Vietnamese guitarist dividing opinion
Millions of views, a Wikipedia page and a blind guitarist: Thanh Điền's cover of Zombie is splitting opinion and challenging British musical pride.
-
AliExpress Requires Face Verification to Buy Scissors
AliExpress now requires age verification with a selfie to buy scissors and cutters. Is it legal? Who benefits from this erratic data control?
-
Dodi's avatar changes for a few seconds and the forum wonders what's left
Dodi's avatar changed for a few seconds and then returned to its original state. The tiny gesture was enough to confirm that the ecosystem around it is…
-
From horror cinema to the human body: an off-topic with no brakes
A forum thread goes from Almodóvar to the shower scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street, with stops at Dragon Ball, Avatar and 1970s horror cinema.
-
Martinez mocks 'dumb progressives' in Omegle video
The Twitter user Martinez posts an Omegle video where he mocks a debate with "dumb progressives". Here's what the tweet says and why it's controversial.