Abstract
The aim of this article is to illustrate the trend occurring in modern epitaphs – appearing as part of the inscription – which has the essence of a maxim. These linguistic forms of commemoration have been divided, in terms of their nature, into two groups: a) sacred, b) secular. An analysis of inscriptions made on gravestones over the last 15 years at the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Lipowa Street in Lublin led to the conclusion that the tendency to put short, standardised, detached “in memoria” is a typical feature of these inscriptions. The time in which the relatives of the deceased have to choose the form of the inscription is usually a very difficult one, since they need to come to terms with the new, and particularly traumatic, circumstances. As has been already mentioned, epitaph is a way of commemoration, expressed in a condensed form. The message, expressed usually in a few, a dozen, or (rarely) a few dozen, words constitutes a reference to the life of the person of whom the relatives share memories of the moments spent together. What is expressed clearly constitutes simply a stimulus to recall the most important moments from the person’s biography. The deceased might have ended their lives on Earth, but they are still alive in the memories of their loved ones. Of course, the events and images of the deceased retained in their relatives’ memory are subjective and to a great extent idealised.
Highlights
The aim of this article is to illustrate the trend occurring in modern epitaphs – appearing as part of the inscription – which has the essence of a maxim
An analysis of inscriptions made on gravestones over the last 15 years at the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Lipowa Street in Lublin led to the conclusion that the tendency to put short, standardised, detached “in memoria” is a typical feature of these inscriptions
As has been already mentioned, epitaph is a way of commemoration, expressed in a condensed form
Summary
Żyjący na przełomie VI i VII wieku Izydor z Sewilli zdefiniował przywołany rodzaj wypowiedzi jako „napis o zmarłych, spoczywających w zaśnięciu [...], zawierający informacje o ich życiu, obyczajach i wieku”. W analogiczny sposób omawiane pojęcie opisywał Bernard z Utrechtu: „utwór na grób [uwzględniający] imię, zajęcia, obyczaje i dzień odejścia zmarłego”. Lapidarną definicją posłużył się Jan Mączyński, wyjaśniając, że epitafium to „tytuł albo napis nagrobny”. Znaczenie kluczowego w tym artykule pojęcia uległo zmianie w XVII wieku, bowiem to wówczas po raz pierwszy zaczęto je utożsamiać z nagrobkiem. Przywołane dotychczas definicje zostały zebrane w jedną formułę, a następnie utrwalone w leksykonie osiemnastowiecznym, z którego dowiadujemy się, że epitafium to „nagrobek, który stawia się ku czci zmarłego, w celu utrwalenia pamięci o nim, zawierający jakąś inskrypcję, notującą datę śmierci i pochwałę cnót zmarłego”.
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