Occiso is a term that comes from Latin, specifically from the word occisus which means killed and which in turn comes from the verb occedere, which means to cut, kill or kill. A deceased is therefore a person who died due to some tragic cause, for example an accident or a murder.
It is a fairly uncommon cultism in colloquial language. Thus, in the sentence “Three people killed in a car accident”, the word deceased could be replaced by dead.
The use of the term
Although deceased is not part of the usual vocabulary, it is used in certain language contexts. In this sense, it appears with some frequency in the field of criminology, in forensic medicine or in the field of law. It must be taken into account that a deceased person is not just any dead person but one who has died of unnatural causes, a circumstance that must be rigorously addressed and subjected to a detailed investigation.
Different ways of referring to the dead
Someone is dead when their vital signs stop working. However, we refer to the dead in different ways and each one of them contributes some unique nuance. The deceased person is a corpse, a term that only refers to the human body. The same happens with the word deceased or even with the colloquial term stiff. Instead, a victim is a deceased person but the word victim refers to the cause of death.
A murdered person is also a lifeless body and in this case reference is made to a violent act. A deceased is a singular way of mentioning a lifeless body and through this word emphasis is placed on the violent form of death.
The deceased today
Deaths caused by violent causes can occur in any place or social context. However, many studies prove that the number of deaths is directly related to marginality, overpopulation and citizen insecurity. For this reason they tend to focus on particular countries and cities, especially in large cities where ghettos linked to violent phenomena are created.
In any case, the number of deaths per thousand inhabitants is a very relevant statistical data when it comes to assessing the quality of life and citizen security in a town. The statistics related to the deceased show that cities such as Baltimore, Caracas, San Salvador or Acapulco are at the forefront of this type of event.
Photo: iStock – chokmoso
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