Km.t is one of the most widely used toponyms to refer to the land of Egypt. Its etymology, “the black one,” is most likely a reference to the blackness of the fertile soil of the Egyptian Nile Valley. Another embodiment of Egyptianness, blackness, and fertility was the deity Osiris. This paper argues that Osiris’s association with these features is not simply metaphorically derived from the association of Egyptian black soil with these features. It argues that the association of Osiris with blackness derives from a pre‑existing association based not only on the features of the black soil but also on those of black hair, its dominant reproductive gene, and prevalence in ancient Egyptian population, as opposed to red hair. The study also analyses the meanings of words derived from the roots √km and √dSr associated with human beings and provides a new analysis of the story of Osiris and Seth as recounted by Plutarch.
color; anthropology; myths; Osiris; Seth
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