I went to see the Quest for Immortality traveling exhibit. It was great! This link has several nice video clips and transcripts for people (maybe your kids?) who are interested but not able to make the exhibit.

I explained some of the symbols to a friend, including 4 theories on the meaning of the djed- [list][*]four pillars, seen one behind the other
[*] a man’s, or Osiris’ backbone
[*] a Syrian cedar with its branches removed
[*] the pole around which sheaves of grain were tied[/list]
Sample scholarship: As theology progressed in Egypt, we see more definitive concepts of the djed pillar. In the Book of the Dead, the djed pillar is said to represent Osiris’ backbone and there are many other references in Egyptian literature to this association.

Then today I came across this article

But the researchers found the preparation of two joint contact surfaces to be very time-consuming and expensive. Makris tested the stability of different column designs at his UC Berkeley lab and found a more compelling reason for the switch to the multi-drum design: seismic safety.

"The use of interlocking stones dissipates a lot of energy," said Makris. "A single stone or stones connected with mortar or cement would be rigid and less able to effectively absorb the energy induced by earthquakes."

A further linguistic clue supports the seismic stability theory: The word the ancient Greeks used for the column drum, spondylos, also means vertebra. The temple columns were abiding by the same shock-absorbing principles as the human spinal column.

(my emphasis)

It piqued my curiosity to search column/pillar for other associations with spine, as I previously associated them only with simulations of plant- or tree- supports in early structures. To limit this post I’ll only quote snippets from etymonline:

spine - c.1400, "backbone," later "thornlike part," from O.Fr. espine, from L. spina "backbone," originally "thorn, prickle," from PIE *spei- "sharp point." Spineless "irresolute" is from 1885.

column - c.1440, "vertical division of a page," from O.Fr. colombe, from L. columna "pillar," collateral form of columen "top, summit," from PIE base *kel- "to project." ... Literal, architectural sense is attested from 1481.

pillar - c.1225, from O.Fr. piler, from M.L. pilare, from L. pila "pillar, stone barrier."

Question: are there connections in your other languages between "column/pillar" and "backbone"?

nefer-gailr

A Swedish pillar is a "pelare", a column a "kolonn". The backbone is "ryggrad", from German Rückgrat, in which rygg/Rück(en) is the back and grat has the meanings of backbone, mountain ridge, fish bone, bone/vertebra.

Until now, I had perceived the -rad in ryggrad as a "row" of vertebrae. It always pays to check your "facts"...

In traditional Japanese architecture, the main support of a house or a building is called "yatai-bone" (from yatai [roof] and hone [bone: no pun intended]).  One cannot exactly translate "yataibone" into either pillar/column (for there is no vertebrae-like stone column in traditional Japanese architecture) or the anatomical backbone, I presume it is architectural enough to be equivalent of "pillar" and has some figurative sense of "backbone" as well (as in "Maxwell is a gentleman to the backbone").

1. "Bread-and-butter product" is yataibone-shoohin (shoohin is product/merchandise) in Japanese.
2. To be very corrupt as in "The firm is corrupt as heart" is yataibone-ga kusatteiru (kusatteiru < perfect form of kusaru to go rot).

Flamn

Quote:
2. To be very corrupt as in "The firm is corrupt as heart" is yataibone-ga kusatteiru (kusatteiru < perfect form of kusaru to go rot).

Could this mean "bad to the bone" or "rotten to the core"?

The latter.
flam