Faith & RitualGreek → English
Mausoleum
/ˌmɔːsəˈliːəm/noun
A large stately building housing a tomb or tombs.
The Greek roots
Μαύσωλος
Maúsōlos
Mausolus, ruler of Caria
Literally: “place of Mausolus”
Follow a root:Μαύσωλος1 word
The story of the word
One man's grave became every rich man's grave. Mausolus governed Caria for the Persian king and died in 353 BC; his widow Artemisia, who was also his sister, raised a monument to him at Halicarnassus so extravagant that it was counted among the Seven Wonders. The Greeks called it τὸ Μαυσωλεῖον, and long after earthquakes had reduced it to blocks that crusaders carted off for a castle, the word had generalized to any grand tomb.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 15th century
Same family
Halicarnassus
In a sentence
The family mausoleum needs more repair than the church does.
They filed past the mausoleum in silence, four abreast.