"memento mori" meaning in English

See memento mori in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /məˈmɛntoʊ ˈmɔːɹi/ Forms: memento mori [plural], memento moris [plural], mementos mori [plural], mementoes mori [plural]
Etymology: From Latin mementō morī (literally “be mindful of dying”). Etymology templates: {{bor|en|la|mementō morī|lit=be mindful of dying}} Latin mementō morī (literally “be mindful of dying”) Head templates: {{en-noun|memento mori|memento moris|mementos mori|mementoes mori|nolinkhead=1}} memento mori (plural memento mori or memento moris or mementos mori or mementoes mori)
  1. An emblematic object or personal ornament, such as a skull, used as a reminder of one's mortality. Related terms: vanitas Translations (memento mori): помни, че си смъртен (pomni, če si smǎrten) (Bulgarian), memento mori (Danish), husk, at du skal dø (Danish), gedenk te sterven (Dutch), muista, että sinunkin on kuoltava (Finnish), souviens-toi que tu vas mourir (French), Memento mori (German), Sei dir der Sterblichkeit bewusst (German), זכור למות (zachúr lamút) (Hebrew), 死を忘るなかれ (shi o wasuru nakare) (alt: しをわするなかれ) (Japanese), atmink, kad mirsi (Lithuanian), lembre-se de que é mortal, lembre-se da morte (Portuguese), adu-ți aminte de moarte! (Romanian), помни о смерти (pomni o smerti) (Russian), hãy nhớ rằng ngươi sẽ phải chết (Vietnamese)

Inflected forms

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          "text": "No, Ile be ſworne: I make as good vſe of it, as many a man doth of a Deaths-Head, or a Memento Mori.",
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          "ref": "1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 62, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:",
          "text": "A great man must keep his heir at his feast like a living memento mori. If he holds very much by life, the presence of the other must be a constant sting and warning. “Make ready to go,” says the successor to your honour; “I am waiting: and I could hold it as well as you.”",
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          "ref": "1854 October, “Civilisation.—The Census.”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume LXXVI, number CCCCLXVIII, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood & Sons, […], page 447, column 2:",
          "text": "I have often heard you express your dislike of any impertinent memento moris—you have even thought it irreligious, and unthankful for present good; and tending to chill the life-blood, the little that is left in the old, and to throw a wet blanket over the cheerfulness of the young, out of which cheerfulness elastic manhood is to spring, and to take upon itself to do the manly responsible duties of life vigorously. I repeat that you have always maintained, that to thrust a memento mori in every man’s face, or to carve it upon his walking-stick, is irreligious, because it is essential unthankfulness.",
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          "text": "On All Saints’ day, Toussaint, the festival of the dead, the fête des morts, the whole town, and especially the cemetery of Rheims, was a scene of lively, and I may say cheerful, excitement. Along the street leading to the latter were arranged on both sides stalls and tables, gayly festooned with crowns, crosses, and memento moris, and attended by female hucksters.",
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          "text": "Here Rudolf tried to insulate himself from the world in a huge accumulation of curiosities and works of art, by all accounts just such a hodge-podge as that of effigies of giants, portraits of horned dwarfs, chastity belts, and mementoes mori in coral as one may see today in the rooms of the Hapsburg Schloss Ambras outside Innsbruck.",
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          "ref": "1971, Tyler Whittle, chapter 4, in The Young Victoria, London: Pan Books Ltd, published 1973, →ISBN, page 192:",
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          "text": "The series of moments [which] the clock records is not only a succession of “nows” but a memento mori diminishing the number of seconds that remain before death.",
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          "ref": "1998, John Diamond, C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too…, London: Vermilion, Ebury Press, published 1999, →ISBN, page 29:",
          "text": "At least it’s given me a chance to study the hospital’s collection of discreet mementoes mori. It’s not just the leaflets from the local council posted around the place telling you, so tastefully, how to register a death, or the instructions on how to get hold of an emergency priest or a rabbi when the moment comes. It’s everywhere.",
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          "code": "bg",
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          "roman": "pomni, če si smǎrten",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "помни, че си смъртен"
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          "word": "husk, at du skal dø"
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          "word": "souviens-toi que tu vas mourir"
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          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "Sei dir der Sterblichkeit bewusst"
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          "code": "he",
          "lang": "Hebrew",
          "roman": "zachúr lamút",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "זכור למות"
        },
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          "alt": "しをわするなかれ",
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "shi o wasuru nakare",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "死を忘るなかれ"
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          "lang": "Lithuanian",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "atmink, kad mirsi"
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          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "lembre-se de que é mortal, lembre-se da morte"
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          "code": "ro",
          "lang": "Romanian",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "adu-ți aminte de moarte!"
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "pomni o smerti",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "помни о смерти"
        },
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          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "sense": "memento mori",
          "word": "hãy nhớ rằng ngươi sẽ phải chết"
        }
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          "text": "A great man must keep his heir at his feast like a living memento mori. If he holds very much by life, the presence of the other must be a constant sting and warning. “Make ready to go,” says the successor to your honour; “I am waiting: and I could hold it as well as you.”",
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          "text": "Here Rudolf tried to insulate himself from the world in a huge accumulation of curiosities and works of art, by all accounts just such a hodge-podge as that of effigies of giants, portraits of horned dwarfs, chastity belts, and mementoes mori in coral as one may see today in the rooms of the Hapsburg Schloss Ambras outside Innsbruck.",
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          "text": "Three days after her proclamation Victoria drove down to Windsor. She had already given an audience to the Earl Marshal and Garter King at Arms about her uncle’s funeral. It remained to visit the Castle, where his remains lay in state, and give her condolences to the Queen Dowager. / Despite her morbid interest in mementoes mori she did not enjoy this visit. The royal standard hung limply at half mast.",
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          "ref": "1993, Richard Klein, “Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime, Paperback edition, Durham: Duke University Press, published 1995, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 8:",
          "text": "The series of moments [which] the clock records is not only a succession of “nows” but a memento mori diminishing the number of seconds that remain before death.",
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          "text": "At least it’s given me a chance to study the hospital’s collection of discreet mementoes mori. It’s not just the leaflets from the local council posted around the place telling you, so tastefully, how to register a death, or the instructions on how to get hold of an emergency priest or a rabbi when the moment comes. It’s everywhere.",
          "type": "quote"
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      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "pomni, če si smǎrten",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "помни, че си смъртен"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "memento mori"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "husk, at du skal dø"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "gedenk te sterven"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "muista, että sinunkin on kuoltava"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "souviens-toi que tu vas mourir"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "Memento mori"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "Sei dir der Sterblichkeit bewusst"
    },
    {
      "code": "he",
      "lang": "Hebrew",
      "roman": "zachúr lamút",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "זכור למות"
    },
    {
      "alt": "しをわするなかれ",
      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "shi o wasuru nakare",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "死を忘るなかれ"
    },
    {
      "code": "lt",
      "lang": "Lithuanian",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "atmink, kad mirsi"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "lembre-se de que é mortal, lembre-se da morte"
    },
    {
      "code": "ro",
      "lang": "Romanian",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "adu-ți aminte de moarte!"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "pomni o smerti",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "помни о смерти"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "sense": "memento mori",
      "word": "hãy nhớ rằng ngươi sẽ phải chết"
    }
  ],
  "word": "memento mori"
}

Download raw JSONL data for memento mori meaning in English (8.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.