“They used to put bells inside coffins.”
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Actually, there was a string or rope placed in the coffin, connected to a bell outside where someone could hear it…which is the origin of the term, “dead ringer.” Also, the inability to know for sure is the origin of the wake - literally to see if the allegedly dead person wakes up.
“origin of the wake - literally to see if the allegedly dead person wakes up.”
That is interesting. I always thought it was just metaphorical.
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dead+ringer
Expression be a dead ringer for “resemble closely” (1891) preserves ringer in the horse-racing slang sense of “a fast horse entered fraudulently in a race in place of a slow one.” The verb to ring in reference to this is attested from 1812, possibly from British ring in “substitute, exchange,” via ring the changes, “substitute counterfeit money for good,” a pun on ring the changes in the sense of “play the regular series of variations in a peal of bells” (1610s).