Etymology

Old Kingdom

Today it means: Egypt from the start of the 3rd Dynasty to its disintegration into regional states at the end of the 6th Dynasty. Full definition →

German Altes Reich
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The story

  1. German · calque ofAltes Reich
  2. English todayOld Kingdom

Calque of German Altes Reich, eventually displacing Old Empire, an older calque of the same term. Coined in the 1840s as part of a periodization of Ancient Egyptian history into Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.