Editing Mummy (section)

== Etymology and meaning ==
The English word ''mummy'' is derived from medieval Latin ''Mumia'', a borrowing of the medieval Arabic word ''mūmiya'' (مومياء) which meant an embalmed corpse, as well as the [[bituminous]] embalming substance. This word was borrowed from Persian where it meant [[Bitumen|asphalt]], and is derived from the word ''mūm'' meaning wax.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=mummy |title=Online Etymology Dictionary: mummy |publisher=etymonline.com |access-date= 8 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mummy |title=mummy |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109024209/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mummy |archive-date=9 November 2013 }}</ref> The meaning of "corpse preserved by desiccation" developed post-medievally.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/oed6barch#page/763/mode/1up mummy] in ''New English Dictionary on Historical Principles''. Also "momie" in [http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/momie CNRTL.fr (in French)].</ref> The [[Middle English|Medieval English]] term "mummy" was defined as "medical preparation of the substance of mummies", rather than the entire corpse, with [[Richard Hakluyt]] in 1599 AD complaining that "these dead bodies are the Mummy which the Phisistians and Apothecaries doe against our willes make us to swallow".<ref>OED, "Mummy, 1", citing Hakluyr's "Voyages, II, 201"</ref> These substances were called [[mummia]].

The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] defines a mummy as "the body of a human being or animal embalmed (according to the ancient Egyptian or some analogous method) as a preparation for burial", citing sources from 1615 AD onward.<ref>[[OED]], "Mummy", 1, 2, 3</ref> However, [[Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences|Chamber's ''Cyclopædia'']] and the Victorian zoologist [[Francis Trevelyan Buckland]]<ref>[[OED]], "Mummy", 3c</ref> define a mummy as follows: "A human or animal body desiccated by exposure to sun or air. Also applied to the frozen carcase of an animal imbedded in prehistoric snow".

Wasps of the genus ''[[Aleiodes]]'' are known as "mummy wasps" because they wrap their caterpillar prey as "mummies".