E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Catacomb.
A subterranean place for the burial of the dead. The Persians have a city they call Comb or Coom, full of mausoleums and the sepulchres of the Persian saints. (Greek, kata-kumb, a hollow place underground.) (See KOOM.)
1
“The most awful idea connected with the catacombs is their interminable extent, and the possibility of going astray in the labyrinth of darkness.”—Hawthorne: Marble Faun, iii.
, a hollow place underground.) (See K
