A worm associated with death, decay, or burial; possibly a parasitic worm or literal worms found in decomposition.
From 'death' plus 'worm' (Old English wyrm). Medieval and early modern term combining the concept of worms (found in corpses during decomposition) with death itself.
Medieval religious texts obsessed over the idea of 'deathworms' eating the corpse in the grave—it was their way of describing biological decomposition through a lens of sin and punishment.
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