taken from the Book of Facts
written by Readers Digest
The word mummy, for the embalmed bodies of Egyptian notables does not come from Egypt, or even the Arab world.
It is thought to be derived from a Persian word mummia, meaning bitumen' or 'tar'.
Mummies were so named because ancient peoples who came across the age-blackened corpses believed wrongly that the bodies were a source of tar.
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