A dead body preserved by embalming, especially in ancient Egyptian burial practices; a person or thing resembling a mummy.
From Arabic mūmiyā meaning 'bitumen' or 'pitch,' referring to the black resinous substance used in embalming. Medieval Arabic physicians used mūmiyā as medicine, believing preserved bodies had healing properties. The word entered Medieval Latin as mumia, then Old French as momie, reaching Middle English as mummy in the 14th century, initially referring to the medicinal substance before meaning the preserved body itself.
This spooky word originally meant 'tar' or 'pitch' in Arabic because that's what medieval people thought the black embalming resin was! Europeans were so fascinated by Egyptian preservation techniques that they borrowed the Arabic word for the mysterious dark substance, not realizing they were naming the bodies after what looked like road tar.
British English 'mummy' (mother) and Egyptian mummy both root in maternal/feminine associations. Centuries of Orientalism feminized Ancient Egypt; 'mummy' evokes both nurture and exoticized otherness.
Specify context: 'Egyptian preserved body' vs. 'mother' to avoid conflation of nurturing with objectification.
["preserved remains","mother","parent"]
Women archaeologists (e.g., Margaret Murray, Ange Chu) recovered Egyptology expertise historically attributed to male scholars.
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