British Museum bans the word ‘MUMMY’ out of ‘respect’ for 3,000-year-old dead

It may seem impossible to hurt the feelings of a 3,000 year old corpse. But Wake museum bosses have stopped using the word ‘mummy’ to describe ancient Egyptian remains, all in the name of ‘respect’.

They say the term is dehumanizing to those who died and, of course, an unwanted throwback to Britain’s colonial past.

The phrase now considered politically acceptable is “mummified person” or “mummified remains”.

The British Museum says it uses the latter phrase to emphasize to visitors that they are looking at people who once lived, while the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle says it has adopted the new terms for its mummified woman Irtyru, dating from around 600 BC, to acknowledge the history of colonial exploitation and give it the respect it deserves.

The National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh has also removed the word ‘mummy’ from the labels on its human remains.

A spokeswoman said: “When we know an individual’s name we use it, otherwise we use ‘mummified man, woman, boy, girl or person’ because we are referring to people, not objects.

“The word ‘mummy’ is not incorrect, but it is dehumanizing, while using the term ‘mummified person’ encourages our visitors to think about the individual.”

Museums also worry that the word has been linked to terrifying monsters, thanks to countless B-movies like 1932’s The Mummy.

Jo Anderson of the Great North Museum said that “legends about the mummy’s curse and movies portraying supernatural monsters…can undermine their humanity.”

The word mummy has been used in English since at least 1615, but some say it has a colonial past, as it derives from the Arabic word ‘mummiya’, meaning ‘bitumen’, which was used as an embalming substance.

Many mummies found their way to Britain in imperial times, especially during the Victorian era, where there was a tendency to unwrap them.

Anderson said this turned the human remains into specimens or curiosities.

But critics of the new terms say the change is a sign of virtue.

Jeremy Black, author of Imperial Legacies: The British Empire Around The World, said: “When museums cut themselves off from popular culture, they show contempt for the way we all understand words, meanings and history.

“It would be better to focus on helping create an environment that encourages everyone to visit rather than pandering to a virtue-pointing minority.”

David Abulafia, emeritus professor of Mediterranean history at Cambridge University, described the move as bizarre, and Chris McGovern, president of the Campaign for Royal Education, said: “The mummy’s curse is driving these academics crazy! “

A British Museum spokesman said: “Exhibits and exhibits have emphasized that the mummified remains are of people who once lived.”

And Adam Goldwater, manager of the Great North Museum: Hancock, said they wanted to describe their collections “respectfully, sharing information from the perspective of their original community.”