The Linguistics of Suicide

In: Philosophy & public affairs, Band 1, Heft 4, S. 387-437

Abstract

Some general reflections on the nature of suicide notes are followed by an analysis of the language of suicide in ancient Greek, Hebrew, Latin, German, French, & English. No language has a genuinely separate word for suicide. "Suicide" itself is a composite of "self" & "killing." Euripides has autocheiri thneisko--"to die by one's own hand." But the group of words proceeding from "to die" is not only later than that derived from "to kill," but is also less universal. Ancient Hebrew contains no comprehensive verb, but the Talmud does have one--'ibbedh 'asmo ledha'ath, "to destroy oneself wittingly." Latin has various general verbs, the most interesting being conscisco mortem or letum, "to resolve on, seek death." English from the very early made use of "to murder oneself," a formulation also found in the German word "sich ermorden." But that is reserved for bringing out the shocking aspect of the event & milder terms exist--sich das Leben nehmen, "to take one's life," or freiwillig aus dem Leben scheiden, "to depart from life voluntarily." In French, as in German, for a long time neutral terms prevailed: se tuer, "to kill oneself." But in the late Middle Ages, the damning meurtrier de soimeme, "self-murderer" appears. Efforts in several European languages to oppose this value-ladden formulation, "self-murder," in the 19th cent are mentioned. Progressive Germans used the word Freitod, "freedeath." In the US today "to commit suicide" presupposes an awareness which is present in the case of a heroic deed but absent from an accident. Psychol'ts will speak of a "suicidal act" or "suicidal tendencies" rather than of self-murder. M. Maxfield.