Skeleton, Mummy

Skeleton
 
Skeletons have not changed that much over the centuries in either appearance or name. The word skeleton has its origins in the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root skele (to parch, wither).
 
The word skeleton appears in English in the 1570s from Latin sceleton (bones, bony framework of the body), Greek skeleton soma (dried-up body, mummy, skeleton) and skeletos (dried up), and Greek skellein (to dry up, make dry, parch)—all from PIE skele.
 
PIE skele is also the source of Greek sclerosis (hardening) and late 14th century English sclerosis (morbid hardening of tissue).
 
Mummy
 
No, we are not talking about your Mum.
 
Mummy comes from Persian mumiya (asphalt) and mum (wax), then Arabic mumiyah and Latin mumia, both meaning an embalmed body. The word mummie comes to English in the late 14th century meaning a medicinal substance prepared from mummy tissue. The use of mummy to mean a dead body embalmed and dried after the manner of the ancient Egyptians comes to English in the 1610s.
 
The verb ‘to mummify’ (to embalm and dry a dead body as a mummy) is from the 1620s. Mummification, the process of making into a mummy, is from 1793. The state or fact of being a mummy is from 1857. The use of mummify meaning to shrivel or dry up is from 1864.
 
What’s the connection between mummies and Hallowe’en aside from theme of death and the dead. Perhaps the connection comes from the ancient mummies found in Egyptian tombs and the curses that were said to fall on anyone who disturbed these bodies.
 
By the way, ‘Mom’ is American English and ‘Mum’ is British English, just in case you were wondering. But I digress.
 
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
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