| 词源 |
sin-eater. Old, poor people called sin-eaters were hired at fu- nerals in ancient times to eat beside the corpse and thus take on all the sins of the dead person, who was then thought to be freed from purgatory. Usually, all they got for taking on these often myriad sins was a small coin, a crust of bread, and a bowl of ale—small payment, though a living, for what amounted to a pawned soul. |