Today we might think of suicide as something done only as last resort in an intolerable situation. Regardless of our opinion on the matter, someone in chronic pain might choose to end his life rather than suffer with no hope of improvement. Even if this is unacceptable to us, we in the U.S. are aware that there are cultures that look at suicide differently: Someone who could not prevent a disaster he was in charge of preventing might commit suicide as the responsible response. The ancient Romans behaved more in line with that worldview.
Another oddity with respect to the history of mankind, we in the U.S., rarely have to look on the real face of death. What we see in the open coffin has been beautified. Death is managed by funeral directors and medical examiners.
Death is associated with a variety of taboos today, so we speak of pushing up daisies or say someone passed rather than saying directly that someone is dead. Bodies of the dead are placed in special grounds associated with all sorts of Halloween or vampire-type terrors.
In ancient Rome for reasons that would have included health concerns, bodies were placed outside the area where people lived, in the area beyond the walls or pomoerium, beyond the city limits.
Here is a matching quiz on Latin words and expressions associated with death. It is a short quiz in which some answers apply to more than one category, but there is one best way to link all the answers on the right with the English on the left.
These terms come from my page on Latin Death Words, which you may consult for further variations as well as the right answers.
Source:
C. Meissner's Latin Phrase Book
Matching Quiz
Sample
I. Kill A. Caedo II. Strike Morally B. Neco Answers: IB, IIA
Match the term on the left with its Latin on the right:
1. Leave This Life a. se vita privare 2. Give Up the Ghost b. sanguinem suum pro patria effundere 3. Dies Before One's Time c. plagam mortiferam infligere 4. Suicide d. e vita excedere 5. Suicide by Poison e. animam efflare 6. Violent Murder f. poculum mortis exhaurire 7. Noble Suicide g. subita morte exstingui
