momie French · revision 15768

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=13th century, Simples médecines, nommie|origins=fa موم}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɔ.mi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''momie''' ''f'' (plural momies)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Nommie'' and ''mommie'' (13th century), ''mummie'' (15th century), ''momie'' (1563), ''mumie'' (Paré, 1582); the Académie gives ''momie'' and ''mumie'' until 1740.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-med|mumia]], “mummia” (first half of the 12th century), the bituminous substance taken from embalmed bodies and used as a medicine,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|19, 130b) itself from [[ar|مومياء|tr=mūmiyāʔ|t=mixture of pitch and bitumen used by the Egyptians for embalming]], derived from [[m|ar|موم|tr=mūm|t=wax]], from [[fa|موم|tr=mūm|t=wax]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) The sense “embalmed body” is a new borrowing from the Arabic word in that sense.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The 13th-century ''Simples médecines'' have ''nommie'', the bitumen used to embalm corpses, and ''poldre de mommie'', a medicinal drug.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the 13th to the 18th century ''momie'' was a drug^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989); Paré's ''Discours de la mumie'' (1582) describes its trade and doubts, telling how bodies were even stolen from gibbets to make it.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989) A trace survives in painting, where ''baume de momie'' was a pigment until the 19th century.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ 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.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) 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).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Momifier'' and ''momification'' date from 1789.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * first half of the 12th century – Medieval Latin ''mumia''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 13th century – ''Nommie'', ''mommie'', a drug.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1563 – The form ''momie'' (Palissy).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1582 – ''Mumie'', an Egyptian embalmed body (Paré).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1651 – A sick person (Cyrano de Bergerac).^(TLFi)

+ * 1732 – A thin, dry person (Lesage).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1789 – ''Momifier'', ''momification''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|mummy]], an embalmed body, especially of ancient Egypt: ''la momie de Ramsès II''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A lifeless, dull person; a [[m|en|fossil]]: ''comme une momie'', motionless.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(historical)'' The bituminous substance used in embalming, sold as a drug.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[momifier]]

+ * [[momification]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|mummy]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}