Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun In ancient Egypt, a figurine of a dead person, placed in their tomb to do their work for them in the afterlife.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Egyptian ๐“…ฑ๐“ˆ™๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พย (wลกbtj,ย "answerer, ushabti"), replacing ๐“†ท๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ๐“€พย (ลกwbtj), perhaps from ๐“ˆ™๐“ฏ๐“ƒ€๐“†ญย (ลกwษœb,ย "persea (tree)"), perhaps the original material.

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Examples

  • I have previously read that there was some very early evidence of human sacrifice in ancient Egypt, but it was something that the Egyptians evidently decided against quite early on in their dynastic development, turning instead to the original and clever invention of "substitutes" by way of ushabti dolls, carved and molded miniatures and artful tomb paintings.

    Archive 2008-10-01 Jan 2008

  • I have previously read that there was some very early evidence of human sacrifice in ancient Egypt, but it was something that the Egyptians evidently decided against quite early on in their dynastic development, turning instead to the original and clever invention of "substitutes" by way of ushabti dolls, carved and molded miniatures and artful tomb paintings.

    Human Sacrifice in Ancient Egypt? Jan 2008

  • But there is a fragmentary funerary figurine or ushabti (possiby an early nineteenth-century find from KV20) and some pieces of her wooden coffin.

    Hatshepsut Found; Thutmose I Lost 2007

  • I will answer for you - "'so it's all true,' Nicholas whispered, Royan replaced the ushabti exactly as she had found it and, still on her knees, turned her face to his. this," she

    The Seventh Scroll Smith, Wilbur 1995

  • It was a small human figure, one of the ushabti dolls.

    The Seventh Scroll Smith, Wilbur 1995

  • It was the wooden ushabti figure that I had carved.

    The Seventh Scroll Smith, Wilbur 1995

  • Nicholas hung up, and went to the door, but suddenly he turned back and picked up the the Taita ushabti from the desk.

    The Seventh Scroll Smith, Wilbur 1995

  • Nicholas slung the radio over one shoulder and his emergency pack over the other, and balanced on his head the case that contained Pharaoh's golden death-mask and the Taita ushabti.

    The Seventh Scroll Smith, Wilbur 1995

  • Beyond the treasury there was another alcove lined with shelves on which stood the ushabti figures: dolls made of green glazed porcelain or carved from cedarwood.

    The Seventh Scroll Smith, Wilbur 1995

  • A fascinating adjunct to the hall of statues was the ushabti shop at the rear where the servants and retainers who would escort the dead king were being carved.

    River God Smith, Wilbur, 1933- 1993

Comments

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  • figurine of deceased person placed in an Egyptian tomb.

    February 5, 2008

  • From golden shoes to double pschent

    Young Tut displayed a dandy's bent.

    His tomb room ushabti

    Were notably natty

    Befitting the shade of a gent.

    April 10, 2016