Resources always exist

Roy Fielding wrote:
> 
> The mapping is the resource and the resource always exists, which is
> is why 404 Not Found does not imply that the resource does not exist,
> but rather says that no current representation of the resource exists
> at the time of the request.

But the HTTP spec says:

 > The DELETE method requests that the origin server delete the resource
 > identified by the Request-URI.

What does "delete the resource" mean if resources always exist? Should 
DELETE be understood to clear the mapping from resources to representations?

  Paul Prescod