Aceldama

From Ancient Greek Ἀκελδαμάχ (Akeldamákh), from Aramaic חקל (“field”) + דמא (“blood”).

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /əˈsɛldəmə/, /əˈkɛldəmə/
• Hyphenation: a‧cel‧da‧ma

Aceldama

1. The potter's field, said to have lain south of Jerusalem, purchased with the bribe which Judas took for betraying his master, and therefore called the field of blood.

Aceldama (plural Aceldamas)

1. A field of bloodshed, a place of slaughter. [from 17th c.]
   • 1849, Thomas de Quincey, The English Mail-Coach:

     […] a regiment already for some hours glorified and hallowed to the ear of all London, as lying stretched, by a large majority, upon one bloody aceldama […]

   • 1928, Edmund Blunden, Undertones of War, Penguin, published 2010, page 42:

     Our own trenches had been knocked silly, and all the area of attack had been turned into an Aceldama.