Ima (plant)

Ima is the ancient Egyptian name of a plant from which an aromatic oil was obtained, which was used, among other things, as a coveted commodity in the early days of Egypt.

It is unclear from which plant the oil was obtained. It could have been capers or perhaps buckthorn plants . For this oil, kings like Semerchet ( 1st Dynasty ) sent expeditions to Retjenu . Vessels with the corresponding inscription were found in his grave near Abydos .

literature

Rainer Hannig : Large Concise Dictionary Egyptian-German: (2800–950 BC) . von Zabern, Mainz 2006, ISBN 3-8053-1771-9 , p. 79.
Ian Shaw: The Oxford history of ancient Egypt . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, ISBN 0-1928-0293-3 , pp. 72-73.
Toby Wilkinson: Early Dynastic Egypt . Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-4151-8633-1 , p. 66.

Remarks

↑ ^a ^b The ancient Egyptian expression djeredj en ima means leaves of the Ima tree ; peret net ima means fruits of the Ima tree . The assignment of this plant is unclear because there are several possibilities for ima : 1) a deciduous tree, 2) the caper plant Maerua crassifolia and 3) the buckthorn plant Ziziphus vulgaris ( Ziziphus sativa ). In a similar hieroglyphic spelling, the word Ima relates to the meaning of pleasant, among other things (information according to Rainer Hannig: Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch . Mainz 2006, p. 79).

[H79-1] The ancient Egyptian expression djeredj en ima means leaves of the Ima tree ; peret net ima means fruits of the Ima tree . The assignment of this plant is unclear because there are several possibilities for ima : 1) a deciduous tree, 2) the caper plant Maerua crassifolia and 3) the buckthorn plant Ziziphus vulgaris ( Ziziphus sativa ). In a similar hieroglyphic spelling, the word Ima relates to the meaning of pleasant, among other things (information according to Rainer Hannig: Großes Handwörterbuch Ägyptisch-Deutsch . Mainz 2006, p. 79).