momie

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɔ.mi/^[1]

Forms

momie f (plural momies)^[1] Nommie and mommie (13th century), mummie (15th century), momie (1563), mumie (Paré, 1582); the Académie gives momie and mumie until 1740.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin mumia, “mummia” (first half of the 12th century), the bituminous substance taken from embalmed bodies and used as a medicine,^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} itself from Arabic مومياء (mūmiyāʔ, “mixture of pitch and bitumen used by the Egyptians for embalming”), derived from موم (mūm, “wax”), from Persian موم (mūm, “wax”).^[2][3][4][7] The sense “embalmed body” is a new borrowing from the Arabic word in that sense.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The 13th-century Simples médecines have nommie, the bitumen used to embalm corpses, and poldre de mommie, a medicinal drug.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th to the 18th century momie was a drug^[2][7][8]; Paré's Discours de la mumie (1582) describes its trade and doubts, telling how bodies were even stolen from gibbets to make it.^[2][7][8] A trace survives in painting, where baume de momie was a pigment until the 19th century.^[3]

In 1582 Paré also used the word for a body embalmed by the ancient Egyptians, the modern sense, extended in 1690 to any dried or embalmed corpse.^[2][3] Figuratively a momie was a sick person (1651, Cyrano), a thin, dried-up person (1732, Lesage), an old person (1760, Diderot) and someone set in old ideas (1831, Balzac).^[2][3] Momifier and momification date from 1789.^[3][4]

Timeline

• first half of the 12th century – Medieval Latin mumia.^[2][3]
• 13th century – Nommie, mommie, a drug.^[2][3]
• 1563 – The form momie (Palissy).^[2][3]
• 1582 – Mumie, an Egyptian embalmed body (Paré).^[2][3]
• 1651 – A sick person (Cyrano de Bergerac).^[2]
• 1732 – A thin, dry person (Lesage).^[2][3]
• 1789 – Momifier, momification.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mummy, an embalmed body, especially of ancient Egypt: la momie de Ramsès II.^[9][1]
2. (familiar) A lifeless, dull person; a fossil: comme une momie, motionless.^[9][1]
3. (historical) The bituminous substance used in embalming, sold as a drug.^[9][8]

Word family

• momifier
• momification

Related words

• English mummy

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 19, 130b
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert