The term "euthanasia" in the earlier sense of supporting someone as they died, was used for the first time by Francis Bacon. In his work, "Euthanasia medica", he chose this ancient Greek word and, in doing so, distinguished between "euthanasia interior", the preparation of the soul for death, and "euthanasia exterior", which was intended to make the end of life easier and painless, in exceptional circumstances by shortening life. That the ancient meaning of an easy death came to the fore again in the early modern period can be seen from its definition in the 18th century "Zedlers Universallexikon":