History of the abbreviation R.I.P.
History of the abbreviation R.I.P. | Ask MetaFilter
"
Rest in peace" (
Latin:
Requiescat in pace) is a short
epitaph or
idiomatic expression wishing eternal rest and peace to someone who has
died. The expression typically appears on
headstones, often abbreviated as "
RIP". The
backronym "
rest in paradise" is also common as a variation. The phrase or acronym is commonly found on the grave of Catholics,
[1] as it is derived from the
burial service of the
Roman Catholic church, in which the following prayer was said at the commencement and conclusion:
[2]
“
Anima eius et animae omnium fidelium defunctorum per Dei misericordiam requiescant in pace.”
In English, it is rendered as
[3]
“
May his soul and the souls of all the departed faithful by God's mercy rest in peace.”
To satisfy a vogue for rhyming couplets on tombstones, the phrase has been parsed as:
[4]
“
Requiesce
cat in pace”
Originally in Hebrew in
Isaiah (57, 2):
“...will come in peace, and they will rest in their beds, he who goes straightforward.”
Found inscribed in Hebrew on gravestones, in the 1st century BC graveyard of
Bet Shearim. This verse speaks of the righteous person who passed away, 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, and used to this day in traditional Jewish ceremonies.
[5]
The phrase in English was not found on tombstones before the eighth century.
[6][7] It became common on the tombs of Catholics in the 18th century for whom it was a prayerful request that their
soul 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 which was enjoined to lie peacefully in the
grave.
[8] This is associated with the Catholic doctrine of the
particular judgment which is that the soul is parted from the body upon death but that they will be reunited on
Judgment Day.
[9]
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 2nd. person singular, or “Requiescite in pace” in the 2nd.person plural.
[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_in_peace
Wiki: for what it is worth.
