The word "deathrattle" is derived from the following:
"death": Middle English, from Old English "dēað," meaning "cessation of life"
"rattle": Middle English, from Old English "hradelian," meaning "to make a rattling sound"
Meaning
The word "deathrattle" refers to a rattling sound in the throat of a dying person, often caused by secretions accumulating in the airways. It is a common and often distressing symptom of terminal illness.
Origin
The term "deathrattle" has been used for centuries to describe the sound that accompanies the dying process. It is mentioned in various historical texts, including:
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (10th century): "And siððan him wearð swa swiðe yfele þæt him com deáðhreðe ðurh þone múð." (And then he grew so ill that the death-rattle came from his mouth.)
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (14th century): "His mouth gaped, and his eyen stared; / He groneth in his throte, as a sparwe departed."
The Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe (1722): "They would be seized with violent pains all over, and a faintness and trembling in the limbs; and presently after, the death-rattle in the throat."
Over time, the term "deathrattle" has become synonymous with the end-of-life process and the inevitable fate that all living beings must face.
