Mummifier

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. One who preserves bodies through embalming and wrapping ; a person responsible for the process of preparing corpses for burial according to ancient or ritualistic methods ; an agent or tool used in the act of preserving bodies for long-term preservation
2. An individual specialized in treating and preserving dead bodies by drying and wrapping ; someone tasked with maintaining the condition of corpses by embalming practices from antiquity or tradition ; a substance or device that aids in the preparation of bodies to prevent decay
3. A practitioner engaged in the ritual preservation of human remains by dehydration and bandaging ; an expert who carries out embalming to protect corpses from decomposition according to cultural rites ; a means or apparatus employed in transforming a corpse into a preserved state through mummification techniques

Etymology: "Mummifier" is a plain formation: the verb "mummify" with the agent suffix "-er" added, giving a word for one who, or that which, mummifies. The suffix works the way it does in "baker" or "driver", marking a person or tool that carries out the action named by the verb. The verb it rests on is the more interesting part. "Mummify" comes from "mummy", which entered English from French and Medieval Latin, and ultimately traces back to Arabic and Persian words for bitumen, the black pitch that early European writers wrongly assumed was an ingredient of Egyptian embalming. The mistaken belief stuck, so the noun for an embalmed body took its name from a substance that was never used in the process.

Synonyms: embalmer, preserver