Rest in peace
Encyclopedia
Epitaph
An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...
or idiom
Idiom
Idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
atic expression wishing eternal rest and peace to someone who has died
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
. The expression typically appears on headstone
Headstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
s, often abbreviated as "RIP". The phrase or initialism is commonly found on the grave of Catholics, as it is derived from the burial service of the Catholic Church, in which the following prayer is said at the commencement and conclusion: In English, it is rendered as
To satisfy a vogue for rhyming couplets on tombstones, the phrase has been parsed as:
Originally in Hebrew in Isaiah
Isaiah
Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
(57, 2):
The verse from Isaiah
Isaiah
Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
has been found inscribed in Hebrew on gravestones dating from the 1st century BC, in the graveyard of Bet Shearim.
This verse speaks of the righteous person who died because he could not stand the evil surrounding him. A recapture of these words, read as "come and rest in peace," has been transferred to the ancient Talmudic prayers, in a mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic of the 3rd century AD. It is used to this day in traditional Jewish ceremonies.
The phrase in English was not found on tombstones before the eighth century. It became common on the tombs of Catholics in the 18th century, for whom it was a prayerful request that their soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
should find peace in the afterlife. When the phrase became conventional, the absence of a reference to the soul led people to suppose that it was the physical body that was enjoined to lie peacefully in the grave
Grave (burial)
A grave is a location where a dead body is buried. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemeteries....
. This is associated with the Catholic doctrine of the particular judgment
Particular judgment
Particular judgment, according to Christian eschatology, is the judgment given by God that a departed person undergoes immediately after death, in contradistinction to the General judgment of all people at the end of the world....
; that is, that the soul is parted from the body upon death, but that the soul and the body will be reunited on Judgment Day.
Other variations include “Requiescat in pace et in amore” for "May she rest in peace and love", “Requiescat in pace et in amore” and “In pace requiescat et in amore”. The word order is variable because Latin syntactical relationships are indicated by the inflexional endings, not by word order. However, if “Rest in peace” is used in an imperative mood, it would be “Requiesce in pace” (acronym R.I.P.) in the second person singular, or “Requiescite in pace” in the second person plural.
Linguistic Analogs
Phrases in other languages:("QEPD") ("RIF") ("REP") ("RIP") ("H.Í.F.") ("G.B.") [Ana'pafsou en ei'rini] [Pɐ'kojsʲa s 'mirom]
- Russian Pre-reformReforms of Russian orthographyThe reform of Russian orthography refers to changes made to the Russian alphabet over the course of the history of the Russian language.- Early Changes :...
: "Покойся съ миромъ" - Church Slavonic language: "Црствїе Нбсное" ['Tsarsvije Nʲɛ'bʲɛsnoje] (Kingdom of HeavenKingdom of GodThe Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
(for him)) - TajikTajik languageTajik, Tajik Persian, or Tajiki, is a variety of modern Persian spoken in Central Asia. Historically Tajiks called their language zabani farsī , meaning Persian language in English; the term zabani tajikī, or Tajik language, was introduced in the 20th century by the Soviets...
: "ҷояш ҷаннад шавад" [Dʒojaʂ dʒanat ʂavad] [Ānxí]