Nuts and Bolts: Death Knells.

 Do not seek to know for whom the bell tolls, says John Donne. And goes on to say it tolls for thee.

illustration by William Henry Stone

Luckily, that is probably not actually physically true. (It is possible, though, because there are three occasions when traditionally the bell tolls: the first is the passing bell, when death is imminent; the second is the death knell to announce that death has occurred; and the third is the lych bell, at the funeral. (Lych means corpse.))

The death knell comes in various local forms. The best-known is probably the tailors: three tailors (strokes of the bell) for the death of a child; six for a woman; and nine for a man. That's

sometimes followed by a stroke for every day of the life lived. In the Basque country further information might be conveyed as to whether the deceased was a priest or a monk, and even his or her economic status. This is called the hil-kanpaiak.

Another way bells can mark a death is by putting a leather pad on one side of the clapper of the bell. This means that every other stroke of the bell has an unearthly, remote, echoing sound. 

Muffling both sides of the clapper happens only after the death of the sovereign.

Let's hope none of us hear that any time soon.

Word To Use Today: tailor. This word, when used to describe a death-knell, used to be teller, as in someone who counts. The Old English form was tellan, and the Old High German word zellen means tell or count.