The Origin and Meaning of "Suicide"
/The word: “suicide,” is one of the most taboo words in the English language. Suicide, as a word, feels heavy. Those that have practice lifting it, professionals and anyone with lived experience, are the ones who can most readily talk about suicide.
It is rarely discussed, and often referred to obliquely: “There was an accident,” or outright denied: “She didn’t jump, she fell.”
The actual word is a noun, and is described well in the Online Etymology Dictionary:
Suicide (n.)
"Deliberate killing of oneself," 1650s, from Modern Latin suicidium "suicide," from Latin sui "of oneself" (genitive of se "self"), from PIE *s(u)w-o- "one's own," from root *s(w)e- (see idiom) + -cidium "a killing," from caedere "to slay" (from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike").
The meaning "person who kills himself deliberately" is from 1728. In Anglo-Latin, the term for "one who commits suicide" was felo-de-se, literally "one guilty concerning himself."
In 17th century England, suicides were legally criminal if of age and sane. Criminalized bodies were mutilated and given degrading burials in highways until 1823. Less than 275 years ago, the body of someone who died by suicide was defiled and discarded. Which is incredible considering the terrific amount of respect we human beings give to our dead. Respect given except when a human being willingly dies by their own hand. I will explore why I think that is in future posts.
Even in 1749, in the full blaze of the philosophic movement, we find a suicide named Portier dragged through the streets of Paris with his face to the ground, hung from a gallows by his feet, and then thrown into the sewers; and the laws were not abrogated till the Revolution, which, having founded so many other forms of freedom, accorded the liberty of death. [W.E.H. Lecky, "History of European Morals" 1869]
Prior to being a secular crime, punishments for suicide and attempted suicide were the purview of established religion. The Catholic Church considered suicide a mortal sin. Denying Christian burials for the bodies, and excommunicating those who were discovered while making an attempt. Not only was a survivor condemned to their hell, that person was essentially banished from their church community. Making it more likely that they would die by their own hand. Fortunately, the Church has since stopped this practice as we learned more about what suicide is, and the mindset leading a person to consider such an action.
Most world religions had or continue to have similar consequences and pronouncements against suicide. I refer to Christianity primarily due to my readership being in Western countries with historical connections to that religion and its various branches. Even the most lapsed Christian knows of the Ten Commandments, with the prohibition against killing:
VI: Thou Shalt Not Kill
Alternatively: Thou Shalt Not Murder
Self-murder is included in this commandment, and it is the genesis as to why Christian religious imagery of hell reserves a special place for suicides:
“One may lay violent hands upon oneself. And therefore, in this place, those who deprived themselves of their lives repent in vain.” — Virgil
The Wood of the Suicides is the seventh circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. The souls of suicides are trapped in the husks of trees. Harpies break off their branches to feed, so they are eternally in pain. Finally, after Judgment Day, their earthly bodies are hung on their branches so they can spend eternity looking at what they threw away.
Dante wrote his Divine Comedy in the common language, which allowed even the most uneducated person to understand the story. The modern conception of the Christian hell is deeply influenced by Dante’s imagery.
Combine our biological imperative to live with religious and state-sponsored stigma, and you get a word that can barely be discussed without people rearing back in fear.
But it’s just a word.
Yes, it has a lot of baggage. Yes, it is scary topic, Yes, it makes us uncomfortable.
Yet — It is possible to talk about a scary subject without being scared by it. If we speak honestly, safely, and with the intention of reducing human suffering I believe we can change the attitude that surrounds discussing suicide. I am not alone in this thinking.
It is only until very recently that organizations (both national and grass-roots) have begun celebrating the lives of those that died and those who survive in the hopes that those struggling with suicidal thoughts don’t feel more isolated than they already feel. I encourage you to learn more about these organizations and their efforts.
