Papyrus ✏ Papyrus is a tall 15 feet (5 meters) reed plant that grew wild all over the Nile river valley. ✏ It was used to make rope, boats and even houses. ✏ Egyptians chewed the papyrus raw as food, swallowed the juice and spit out the remains. ✏ Papyrus is a late Middle English word which literally means paper­reed in Latin and was derived from the Greek word “papuros.” ✏ Our word “paper” is derived from the Anglo­Norman French word “papir.” ✏ The plural of papyrus is papyri thereby designating several sheets. Manufacturing and Use ✏ The Egyptians made paper from papyrus as early as the First Dynasty between the 34th and 30th centuries BC. ✏ The outer green layer was removed, then the pith, a white fleshy part, was cut into thin strips which were rolled to flatten them. ✏ These were placed next to each other with additional layers on top going the opposite way. ✏ The strips may have been soaked in water long enough for decomposition​ to begin, perhaps increasing adhesion, but this is not certain. ✏ The juices acted as a glue as the reed stems were pounded together and the sheets were left to dry. ✏ The sheets were smoothed with a smooth rock, shell, or piece of ivory. ✏ Egypt manufactured papyrus paper by carefully guarded processes. ✏ Egypt went on to supply the whole Roman Empire with a light and portable invention compared to stone and metal plates, wooden and clay tablets, or leather. ✏ Paper made of parchment arrived in the 2nd Century AD and later linen came along from China by way of Baghdad in the 8th Century AD. ✏ The ​Egyptians did not leave the method of making papyrus paper ​although Egypt's dry climate allowed scripts going back 5000 years to survive. ✏ Papyrus making was lost until the 1960s when Egyptian engineer Hassan Ragab started a papyrus plantation near Cairo and researched the method of production. ✏ Today a species of papyrus is found growing naturally in the Wadi Natron, an oasis area west of the Delta in Egypt. ✏ Other uses of papyrus were boat sails, ropes, light cabins on boats, boxes, chests, crates and baskets​, ​floor mats and fuel.