Why did ancient egyptians call mummies mummies?

Answer 1

Mummy came from the Old English word 'mummie (a medical material from embalmed corpses), that word was borrowed from Old French word 'mumie' which came from the Medieval Latin word 'mumia', which was borrowed from the Arabic word 'mūmīya', which borrowed from the Persian word 'mūm', wax. Isn't etymology fun? It's amazing how much information a good dictionary contains.
Mummy is short for mummified corpse. It was used as a term for films.

Mummy is the English form of the Arabic word mumiya,bitumen, from mum, wax.
Mummy is the English version of the Arabic word mumiya, meaning an embalmed body, which in turn derives from Persian moum (wax or any soft pliable material). The association is with bitumen, which early Classical and Arab writers thought was used in the mummification process - it wasn't, but the common black appearance of discovered mummies gave that impression.

The ancient Egyptians did not use the word mummy - their word was written saH in hieroglyphs (a word closely related to another meaning a dignitary or nobleman).

Answer 2

The word mummy (pl mummies) meaning an embalmed or otherwise preserved dead body, comes from the old French mumie, which in turn comes from Late Latin mumia, from Arabic and Persian mūmiyā, from Persian mūmmeaning wax.

Answer 3

The act of preserving the dead bodies so they don't rot, by removing particular organs and embalming is known as mummification. Therefore any body who has been mummified is called a mummie.

Answer 4

Mummies are buried because ancient egyptians thought there was a life after death. So they buried mummies. They thought that If they burnt they cannot live the after life.