英語の paper やフランス語の papier の語源でもある papyrus は、昔はエジプトに多く見られたカヤツリグサ科の水生植物ですが、今でもナイル川の上流にはまだ残っているそうです。古代エジプト人はこの茎の髄の繊維で紙を作ったので、紙の語源となったのですが、この茎は柔軟で細工がしやすく、木が不足していた古代のエジプトでは小船まで造ったといいますから、丈夫な繊維をもった植物ですね。高さが２メトルほどになるそうですから、日本のカヤツリグサのお化けと思えばいいでしょう。
今日、ユダヤ人はどこの家庭でも、毎年、春になると「過越祭」を１週間にわたって祝います。これは古代エジプトで、ファラオ（エジプト王の称号）の奴隷として苦しみを受けていたイスラエル人の祖先が、神から遣わされたモーセというすぐれた指導者によって、エジプトから救い出されたことを感謝するたいせつな祭です。このエジプト脱出の物語を記したのが、「創世記」の次に収められている「出エジプト記」です。
イスラエル人が増えすぎたことを恐れたファラオは、「生まれた男の子は、一人残らずナイル川にほうり込め」という命令を全国民に出しました。ある母親が、生後３ヵ月の男の子をパピルスの籠にいれて、ナイル川の河畔の葦の茂みに置きました。この子は、たまたま水浴びに来ていたファラオの王女に発見されて、モーセと名付けられ、王女の子として育てられました。
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people:
Every boy that is born you must throw into the river, but let every girl live.
Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.
Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him."This is one of the Hebrew babies,"she said.
Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter,
"Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"
"Yes, go," she answered. And the girl went and got the baby's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her,"Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you."
So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying,"I drew him out of the water."
