Folio 93v - the age of man, continued. De lapidibus igniferis; Of fire-bearing stones
When the body is carried, we speak of a funeral procession, exequie. When the remains are burned, we call them reliquie. When the body is interred, we say it is now buried, sepultus. The common word is corpus as in the quotation: 'The bodies of those lacking light' (Vergil, Georgics, 4, 255). We call someone dead, 'defunct', defunctus, because he has completed the office of life. For we talk of someone having discharged an office, functus officio, because they have completed the duties required of them. In the same way we also talk of someone discharging public business. For this reason, therefore, we use the word defunctus, because the deceased has been set aside from the office of life, or because he has completed the duties of life's day. The word for 'buried', sepultus, is so called because the body is that point without a pulse, sine pulsu, or palpitation, that is, motionless. The word sepelire means to bury bodies; we use the words humare and obruere, that is, to cast earth on the body. Of fire-bearing stones
Folio 93v - the age of man, continued. De lapidibus igniferis; Of fire-bearing stones | The Aberdeen Bestiary | The University of Aberdeen