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per-herbam-ad-astra asked:

Did ancient Egypt have a specific word for mummies, or would they have just been whatever 'corpse' was/is? Thank you for your time :D

thatlittleegyptologist answered:

Not a specific word no. They don’t tend to mention the dead body itself, but rather skirt around the issue. In the ask where I mention that Hehnekhu was ‘wrapping his mother’ it never mentions that she’s dead explicitly. Ancient Egyptian culture is a little funny when it comes to writing about death. They skirt around it and use euphemisms, because to write something down gives it heka and thus can come into being. Osiris is always mentioned as being 'weary’ rather than 'dead’ for the same reason. What it does say is 'wt.tw mw.t=f’ ('wrapping his mother’) where 'wt’ means to bind bandages specifically used during mummification.

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The 'pustule’ here indicates a 'body’ usage for the cloth i.e. to wrap the dead that isn’t positive. The pustule is usually used in words that are medical conditions or to do with health.

A related word 'wt(.w)’ ('coffin’) also contains this pustule:

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And Embalmer also has it:

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It’s probably no surprise, therefore, that one of the words for the deceased was 'wt’ (embalmed one). Other words for the deceased included 'the Osiris’ or 'as an Osiris’, a 'form’ for a King:

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saH can also mean Noble, which is why it’s used here. We use the translation of 'mummy’ but the literal translation is 'noble form’. Then you have words like 'tired’ or 'weary’ one to describe the dead too. Even when using saH, which is from a Tomb Robbery Papyri, the accused making the statement talking about 'the saH of the god resting there’ using language that implies 'oh he’s just sleeping’….before he talks about setting the body on fire to claim the amulets and jewellery from it.

The only time they do use 'corpse’ is when they’re referring to defeated enemies, because then it’s ok to have heka keep them dead. That word is as follows:

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Again note the 'pustule’ glyph that tells you this is about bodies and it isn’t a good word about them.

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