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- Dictionarymemento mori/mɪˌmɛntəʊ ˈmɔːrʌɪ/
noun
- 1. an object kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death, such as a skull: "he placed the picture in his room as a memento mori"
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Memento mori (Latin for "remember (that you have) to die") is an artistic or symbolic trope acting as a reminder of the inevitability of death. The concept has its roots in the philosophers of classical antiquity and Christianity , and appeared in funerary art and architecture from the medieval period onwards.
The phrase “memento mori”, which is often mistranslated as “remember that you will die”, actually also has another meaning when analyzed in a more correct translation: “remember that you must die”.
memento mori, in art and spirituality, a symbolic trope or meditative practice that serves as a reminder of mortality and the transitory nature of earthly pleasures. Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning “remember you must die.”.
Memento mori literally means "Remember you must die". The early Puritan settlers were particularly aware of death and fearful of what it might mean, so a Puritan tombstone will often display a memento mori intended for the living.
MEMENTO MORI definition: 1. something that reminds people that everyone must die: 2. something that reminds people that…. Learn more.
The phrase memento mori emerged in late-1500s, early-1600s Christianity as an instruction to value eternal life of the spirit over the temporary life of the body. For instance, a 1579 poem addressed to a man on his deathbed, and headed by the epigraph “Memento Mori,” notes that the “flesh is frail” and implores the reader to seek mercy ...
something that reminds people that everyone must die: The painting features a human skull, the classic memento mori. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Death and dying. all-cause mortality. antemortem. bereave. bite. bleed out. coroner. death toll. ghost. have one foot in the grave idiom. macabre. perish. raise someone from the dead idiom
Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’. A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers.
Definition of memento mori noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
The idea of the "Memento Mori" - a Latin phrase meaning "remember that you must die" - is a fertile theme in art than can be traced back to the Ancient Egyptians. But as a defined genre its beginning is connected specifically with the period of Roman Antiquity (hence the Latin title).
