The idea of death refers to the end of life.
Establishing the etymological origin of the word death takes us back to Latin. Specifically, we discover that it comes from the Latin word mors, mortis , which over time would give rise to the verb to die.
Death is the end of life due to the organic inability to sustain the homeostatic process. It is the end of the living organism that was created from birth.
Types of death
There are different types of death. Firstly, we could talk about the so-called natural death, which, as its name indicates, is that which occurs as a consequence of the old age of the person in question.
But on the other hand, there is the so-called violent death, which is the death that someone experiences either as a result of blunt trauma and in a fortuitous manner or as a consequence of another individual having decided to end his or her life . Thus, someone dies a violent death when he or she is the victim of a murderer or homicide.
Evolution of the concept
The concept of death, however, has varied throughout history . In ancient times, death was considered an event that occurred when the heart stopped beating and the living being stopped breathing. With the advancement of science , death came to be understood as a process that, after a certain point, becomes irreversible.
Nowadays, a person may have stopped breathing on their own and still be alive thanks to an artificial respirator. On the other hand, we can speak of brain death to refer to the complete and irreversible cessation of brain activity.
For biology, death implies the impossibility of maintaining the homeostatic process.
Death: religion and symbolism
Beyond biology , there is a social and religious conception of death. Death is usually considered the separation of the body and the soul. Therefore, death would imply the end of physical life but not of existence. Belief in reincarnation is also quite common.
A skeleton covered in a kind of robe and carrying a scythe is the symbol of death. Death as a figure is known as the Grim Reaper . For example: “When the Grim Reaper comes to get you, there is nothing you can do.”
Other uses of the notion
In this sense, we have to establish the existence of what is known as the dance of death . We can say that this is a representation that was carried out during the Middle Ages of a dance in which the central figure was Death, who acted as a symbol of the equality of all men before it.
Similarly, there is also the term toro de muerte (toro of death ). This is used to refer to what would be the fighting bull, that is, the animal that, from birth, is raised to be the one that faces a bullfighter in a ring during the corresponding bullfight.
Death, finally, is the destruction or the end of something : “The death of the Argentine national team as a power occurred after the retirement of Diego Maradona.”